A Mosaic of Gardens

The British suburban landscape is a ‘mosaic of gardens’. Britain is a ‘Nation of Gardeners’. Domestic suburban gardens permeate the discourse of UK suburbs, in terms of their origin, development, theory and popular appeal. Each domestic garden is individually crafted by its owners. As owners change, as the life-style of owners change, as gardening fashion changes, the gardens gradually change. The ‘mosaic of gardens’ is continuously transformed reflecting social, cultural and economic shifts in the life of suburban residents.

The paper proposes that an understanding of the impact of individual gardener decisions on this mosaic is crucial in any discussion of land use and sustainability. Domestic gardens are at the heart of new research challenging the long-held view that suburban neighbourhoods are less sustainable than a compact urban form. To increase the potential suburban gardens have to enhance biodiversity, ecosystem services, health and well-being, social sustainability and urban agriculture, it is important to understand the crafting of individual gardens and how to manage gardens across spatial scales; important to link the individual vision of millions of gardeners, crafting their garden space, into a vision for the sustainable future of UK suburban neighborhoods.