How Is Urbanization Making America Socially and Ecologically Homogeneous?
Land uses and management practices in residential parcels (e.g., aesthetic/recreational/economic uses, land-cover choices, irrigation and chemical applications) impact and are impacted by social (e.g., stratification and status, environmental perceptions, zoning) and ecological (e.g., carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, water demand and quality) processes. As the dominant yard-cover type for single-family homes, grass is ubiquitous in human-dominated ecosystems spanning urban and suburban areas, where significant amounts of water and chemical inputs are necessary to maintain the traditional notion of a hyper-green, weed-free lawn. Especially since post-WWII (sub)urbanization, the proliferation of standard residential developments has raised important questions about the homogenization of US society and landscapes. Some scholars have suggested that, regardless of their ecological or biophysical settings, urban and suburban places may be more similar to each other than they are to ‘n
