Lawn Ordinances with Chris Kennedy

The Horticulturati

Why do we mow our lawns? That’s the question posed by our guest, artist and urban ecologist Chris Kennedy of the Urban Systems Lab and Central Texas Mycological Society; the answer is a tangle of municipal policy, attitudes toward property ownership, and status anxiety. Chris joins the pod to tell us about his research into city lawn ordinances and weed-control laws in the United States.

In the City of Austin, having “grass and weeds more than 12 inches in height is considered an unsanitary condition and a code violation,” and many homeowners’ associations mandate that turfgrass must comprise a minimum of 25% of a front yard, despite local water restrictions. We discuss how these strictures are rooted in redlining practices and fear of the natural world, how they stand in opposition to sustainable or regenerative landscaping practices, and what citizens here in town, and around the country, are doing about it.

Mentioned in this episode:

Austin’s Tall Weeds and Grass Ordinance; the municipal code; a cringe video about weeds on the city’s official YouTube page; “Rethinking The American Lawn” by Will McCarthy in Texas Monthly, about Lewisville, Texas; “Weeding Out Bad Vegetation Ordinances” by Bret Rappaport and Bevin Horn; Sustainable Development Code; updates to codes to allow managed natural landscapes in Minneapolis, Austin; pushback from residents in Ontario and Chicago in 2018 and 2019; a sunflower citation in south Austin in 2021; complaints about how the city fails to follow its own rules; San Antonio DSA’s Code Busters; Texas Senate Bill 198 “relating to restrictive covenants regulating drought-resistant landscaping or water-conserving natural turf;” Joan Nassauer’s “Cues to Care”; and the “NYC Glyphosate Map” by Reverend Billy.

Music: “Egypt” by Weldon Irvine and “Don’t Forget Your Neighborhood” by Cola Boyy and Avalanches.

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