Assessing the homogenization of urban land management with an application to US residential lawn care.

Changes in land use, land cover, and land management present some of the greatest potential global environmental challenges of the 21st century. Urbanization, one of the principal drivers of these transformations, is commonly thought to be generating land changes that are increasingly similar. An implication of this multiscale homogenization hypothesis is that the ecosystem structure and function and human behaviors associated with urbanization should be more similar in certain kinds of urbanized locations across biogeophysical gradients than across urbanization gradients in places with similar biogeophysical characteristics. This paper introduces an analytical framework for testing this hypothesis, and applies the framework to the case of residential lawn care. This set of land management behaviors are often assumed--not demonstrated--to exhibit homogeneity. Multivariate analyses are conducted on telephone survey responses from a geographically stratified random sample of homeowners (n = 9,480), equally distributed across six US metropolitan areas. Two behaviors are examined: lawn fertilizing and irrigating. Limited support for strong homogenization is found at two scales (i.e., multi- and single-city; 2 of 36 cases), but significant support is found for homogenization at only one scale (22 cases) or at neither scale (12 cases). These results suggest that US lawn care behaviors are more differentiated in practice than in theory. Thus, even if the biophysical outcomes of urbanization are homogenizing, managing the associated sustainability implications may require a multiscale, differentiated approach because the underlying social practices appear relatively varied. The analytical approach introduced here should also be productive for other facets of urban-ecological homogenization.

Tennis : organe du lawn-tennis en France

1910/04-1910/12.

Chapman Family burial plot, Forest Lawn, Glendale, California

Chapman Family burial plot, Forest Lawn, Glendale, California. "La Carita" statue.

Memorial Hall and sunken lawn, Chapman College, Orange, California

Memorial Hall and sunken lawn, Chapman College, Orange, California.

Three people on the lawn near Memorial Hall, Chapman College, Orange, California

Three people are sitting on the lawn near Memorial Hall, Chapman College, Orange, California.

Students on lawn by Reeves Hall, Chapman College, Orange, California

Reeves Hall, Chapman College, Orange, California. This historical building (2 floors, 17,862 sq.ft.), completed in 1913 is named in honor of George N. Reeves, president of the university from 1942 to 1956. It is listed in the National Registry for Historical Buildings and houses the Kathleen Muth Reading Center, College of Lifelong Learning, and the School of Education. Originally constructed to serve Orange Union High School, it was designed along with its twin building by Santa Ana architect Frank Eley. Acquired by Chapman College in 1954.

Photograph - Lawn Bowling St. Catharines

Black and white photograph, 13 cm x 20 cm, which appears to have been cut from a scrapbook. This is a photo of lawn bowling in St. Catharines in about 1900. The man on the extreme left is Hamilton Killaly Woodruff. The picture is described on the back by R.W. Band of Toronto.

Indenture between Victoria Lawn Cemetery of the Corporation of the City of St. Catharines and Samuel D. Woodruff

Indenture between Victoria Lawn Cemetery of the Corporation of the City of St. Catharines and Samuel D. Woodruff for 112 sq.ft. known as part of section P. This is deed no. 1905, Oct. 21, 1901.

Indenture between Victoria Lawn Cemetery of the Corporation of the City of St. Catharines and Hamilton K. Woodruff

Indenture between Victoria Lawn Cemetery of the Corporation of the City of St. Catharines and Hamilton K. Woodruff for 216 square feet, Lot no.2 in division 9, section G of the Victoria Lawn Cemetery. This is a handwritten copy. The deed no. is 1937, Jan. 6, 1903.

Indenture between Victoria Lawn Cemetery, St. Catharines and H.K. Woodruff

Indenture between Victoria Lawn Cemetery, St. Catharines and H.K. Woodruff for Lot no. 1 in the north part in section L which included 108 feet. This is cemetery deed no. 261, March 8, 1910.

Indenture Park Lawn Cemetery Co. Ltd.

Indenture between Park Lawn Cemetery Co. Ltd. of Toronto, deed no.2905 for Lot 91 in section H for 156 feet for burial ground paid by Percy C. Bands [Band], Feb. 24, 1926.

Indenture between St. Catharines Victoria Lawn Cemetery and Mrs. H.K. Woodruff

Indenture between St. Catharines Victoria Lawn Cemetery and Mrs. H.K. Woodruff for a perpetual care fund and $67.20 into a general care and improvement fund in respect to the southerly portion of Lot no.9 in section P of the St. Catharines Victoria Lawn Cemetery. The deed no. is 859. This is the S.D. Woodruff plot, Nov. 4, 1932.

Receipts from Park Lawn Cemetery Co. Ltd.

Receipts from the Park Lawn Cemetery Co. Ltd., Bloor St. West, Toronto. Receipt no. 851 for payment in full for a Lot no.91 in section H received from Percy C. Bands [Band]. Receipt no. 852 for payment for corner stones for Lot no.91 in section H received from Percy C. Bands [Band]. The unnumbered receipt is for opening an adult grave for Sarah Lawrence. Payment was received from Percy C. Bands [Band], Feb. 23, 1926.

Map of Park lawn Cemetery

Map of Park Lawn Cemetery (which is off Bloor St. in Toronto). (This is a photocopy): Notes which have been penciled in are: “Sarah 1926”; “Eliza Lawrence, 1929” and “Eliza’s stone touching one of the big trees”, n.d.