One Neighbor’s Curb Garden, Another’s Weedy Pit: Municipal and Designer Perspectives on Public Perception of Green Street Rain Garden Appearance
Landscape architects nationwide believe in the many benefits of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI). For this strategy to succeed, the public must want these installations in their yards, parks, schools, and neighborhood streets. This thesis presents a study of public reactions to the appearance of GSI, focusing on rain garden installation within the municipal streetscape—technically a “public” space, but perceived by homeowners as part of their front yards. Public resistance to streetscape rain gardens can be found across the U.S. Some residents regard them as ugly, unsettling instances of wilderness, while others find them appealing. A community’s appreciation for rain gardens is intrinsic to green infrastructure’s cultural sustainability: negative reactions can stall and prevent implementation, even when the gardens are completely sited within the right-of-way (municipal land). This study builds upon existing research and theory transecting the fields of landscape architecture, environmental behavior, and philosophical aesthetics to identify the likely drivers of public concern regarding rain garden appearance.
The study interviews designers and municipal program managers of green streets projects in two U.S. areas (Kansas City, Missouri, and Montgomery County, Maryland). Analysis of data from semi-structured interviews results in a set of guidelines for rain garden design and suggestions for the participatory design process. Additionally, analysis reveals that guidelines for success are associated with the social value of care, an association rooted in the long-held aesthetic norm of the American front yard. Implementing aspects of this norm avoids public interpretation of rain gardens as untended, neglected landscapes.
Advisers/Committee
