Graduation Semester and Year
Fall 2025
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Landscape Architecture
Department
Landscape Architecture
First Advisor
Austin Allen
Second Advisor
Joowon Im
Third Advisor
Letora Anderson
Abstract
Lawns are a landscape staple that dominate urban and suburban spaces. While they are often criticized, for many good reasons, their general popularity and acceptance are undeniable. Aesthetic preference, simple maintenance, low upfront cost, and high recreational value make lawns a ubiquitous feature in urban design (Ignatieva et al., 2017). However, from an environmental standpoint they are immensely costly and contribute significantly to pollution (Smetana & Crittenden 2014). Ecologically speaking, they contribute very little to local biomes and, with their prevalence in rural and suburban settings, they displace large swaths of native habitat. Despite rigorous research and well-articulated arguments against the continued use of lawns, even the most environmentally conscious landscape designers begrudgingly accept that the better qualities of lawns make them useful and appropriate in certain contexts. Flowering lawns – lawns featuring flowering forbs– present the potential for a painless alteration to conventional lawns in which upfront costs remain low, the recreational value is preserved, but the ecological function is greatly improved, especially if the forbs included are flowering native plants (Ramer et al., 2019). The aim of this study is to explore the ecological, practical, and aesthetic potential of introducing flowering lawns through a re-design of Mainstreet Garden in the urban core of Dallas, Texas. By suggesting design solutions for improving the ecological and environmental qualities of one representative park in the urban core of the city, the hope is to catalyze the incremental, regenerative reintroduction of Blackland Prairie biodiversity to the urban grassland of the North Central Texas area. In order to do this, the design methods of site inventory, observation, park user interviews, site analysis, and iterative design were used to generate a park design that responds to the site context, needs of park users, and showcase native flowering lawns.
Keywords
Flowering Lawn, Dallas Texas, Regenerative Design, Main Street Garden Park
Disciplines
Landscape Architecture
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Wagner, Peter E., "BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO MAIN STREET GARDEN: A DESIGN TO SHOWCASE NATIVE FORB FLOWERING LAWNS FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE DOWNTOWN DALLAS, TX" (2025). Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses. 320.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/landscapearch_theses/320