Artificial lawn people

King’s Research Portal DOI: 10.1177/2514848619843729 Document Version Peer reviewed version Link to publication record in King's Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Brooks, A. R., & Francis, R. A. (2019). Artificial lawn people. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619843729 Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on King's Research Portal is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Post-Print version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections. 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Jun. 2020 Artificial Lawn People 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 Andrew Brooks and Robert A. Francis* Department of Geography, King’s College London, Strand Campus, Bush House (North East Wing), 30 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4BG *corresponding author: robert.francis@kcl.ac.uk; Tel: +44(0)20 7848 8192 Abstract This paper explores a new artificial political ecology through a novel digital methodology. The emotional impacts of the replacement of living turfgrass landscapes with synthetic simulacra are researched via a netnography of animated and polarised online discussion. We investigate how the cultural use of domestic lawns has extended into the creation of non-living artificial lawns and how the environmental values of these new landscapes are debated. Synthetic polymer (plastic) grasses are increasingly being used as alternatives to turfgrass in domestic gardens, changing urban ecologies. We examine the emotional landscapes that are reproduced in online discourse. Paul Robbins showed that a certain suite of behaviours constitutes ‘Lawn People’. Here we demonstrate that ‘Artificial Lawn People’ act in reference to cultural expectations of a ‘good’ lawn to produce non-living, homogeneous, green and tidy gardens, yet their actions spark fierce criticism from others who do not value this new synthetic nature. Our research involved analysis of 948 online discussion posts, and introduces a secondary notion of ‘artificial people’ as our subjects were anonymous contributors to virtual public debates on the environment: generating impassioned polyvocal contestation. Mumsnet.com is a space of heated discussion between proponents and opponents of artificial lawns. We identify three topics: i) emotional responses: artificial grass is polarising, and its social value contested; ii) bio-physical affects: plastic fibres impact human and non-human life; and iii) environmental values: turfgrass replacement influences local and global political ecologies. The conclusions shed light on the dynamic relationships between the emotional values of living and non-living landscapes. Word count: 9851 inc. abstract and references Keywords: Synthetic turf, plastic grass, emotions, netnography, simulacra Highlights:    Installation of plastic grass in domestic lawns is changing urban ecologies and social practice generating heated and emotional public debate about local environments. We use a netnographic analysis to explore the emotional landscapes produced by artificial lawns. Three topics of concern emerged: emotional responses, bio-physical affects and environmental values. 1 46 47 48 49 50  Artificial lawn people reflect the dynamic and complex relationships between living and non-living objects in domestic space. Introduction 51 52 Wouldn’t it be great if your lawn could look lush, green and well maintained all year 53 round? Wouldn’t it be marvellous if the weekly lawn cutting ritual became a thing of 54 a past? Wouldn’t it be nice to have your neighbours comment on how lovely your 55 garden looks when they come over for the customary BBQ? 56 57 Then you may find yourself considering installing artificial turf in your garden… 58 59 TigerTurf, 2018 60 61 Human-made materials abound. Ranging in scale from micro-plastic pollutants to the 62 sprawling Great Pacific Ocean Garbage patch, prescient environmental studies focus on the 63 unintended impacts of waste that derives from overconsumption. The evidence base that 64 undergirds these arguments and the emotional resonance of these phenomena are such 65 that talk of human-induced global environmental crises across multiple planetary domains 66 has crossed-over from academic discourse to popular debate (Castree, 2018; Siegle 2018). 67 Life in the Anthropocene is under threat and concern is spreading (Haraway, 2015; Kunkel, 68 2017), yet these crises and their discussion operate at an abstract global scale. Specific 69 emotional responses to changing socio-natural environments are primarily experienced at 70 local scales through the way people feel about their homes, neighbourhoods, cities and 71 regions; and both shape, and are shaped by, personal and community identities (Brook, 72 2003; Clayton and Myers, 2009; Roessler, 2012). Consumption choices made at the level of 73 individual landscapes have material impacts and affective responses that are under- 74 explored in environmental studies (Rose, 2017). The proliferation of synthetic materials has 75 enabled consumers to choose to replace living things with artificial substitutes. Here we 76 explore emotional responses to environmental change and shift the focus away from the 77 use of human-made products that unintentionally disrupt biophysical systems to the 78 purposeful replacement of biota with non-living alternatives. New patterns of synthetic 2 79 consumption produce new cultural landscapes. In concert with the spread of synthetic 80 materials a new space for popular environmental debate has opened up. The internet has 81 become a place for often distant and hitherto unfamiliar people to engage in discussion 82 about new consumer practices and changes to their neighbourhood environments. A new 83 socio-nature that triggers polarising and emotive debate among anonymous internet users 84 is artificial grass. Some lawns are being changed as the flora that originally defined them is 85 exchanged for non-living simulacra (Francis 2018). Artificial lawn owners are removing living 86 turfgrass from domestic gardens and producing new emotional landscapes both in their 87 local contexts and in wider discursive spaces. 88 89 Domestic lawns are very public private spaces. Although lawns may represent a ‘deliberate 90 construction of a relationship with nature’ (Gross and Lane 2007, p.237), conformity of this 91 relationship is the norm, and it is rare for households to break from established urban 92 ecological behaviours and choose artificial materials in place of turfgrass. They are 93 concerned about the costs, maintenance and appearance of synthetic fibres, the opinions of 94 their neighbours and the potential local and global scale environmental consequences. In 95 domestic gardens people reconcile the converging forces of industrial capitalism, cultural 96 politics, heritage and environmentalism (Mustafa et al. 2010; Robbins and Sharp 2003). The 97 turfgrass lawn is the predominate form of coverage across British domestic and public 98 outdoor spaces and can be extensive, with Ignatieva et al. (2015) estimating that lawns 99 make up around 70-75% of urban green space. They are an everyday landscape aesthetic 100 that symbolises discipline, prosperity, community and citizenship. Lawns are an artefact of 101 the Anthropocene embedded in the fabric of settlements large and small and central to 102 everyday domestic space (Castree 2018; Trudgill et al. 2010; Robbins 2007). 103 104 The relationship between people and lawns is emotional. Their formation and maintenance 105 is driven by particular environmental behaviours on the part of their owners, resulting from 106 a suite of psychological motives (Clayton, 2007). Yet these behaviours are more broadly 107 shaped by established lawn cultures. Indeed, in North America the cultural import of lawns 108 is so significant that it led Paul Robbins to argue that they produce ‘lawn people’: subjects 109 who act in ways mediated by the requirements of maintaining front and back yards 110 (gardens). A suite of urban ecological behaviours stem from tending lawns and ‘produces a 3 111 certain kind of person – a turfgrass subject’ (2007 p.xvi). North America’s lawns are a 112 product of social and environmental colonialism imported from Northern Europe (Mustafa 113 et al. 2010) and tending turfgrass is a national obsession in the United Kingdom (Lowenthal 114 1991; Trudgill et al. 2010). Domestic lawns developed in lock-step with the growth of the 115 middle-classes and the subsequent global expansion of consumer capitalism (Trentmann, 116 2016). Turfgrass became a fixture in modern culture and a landscape distinct from 117 agricultural spaces and ‘wild’ sites (Lorimer, 2016). Robbins explored how a living grass lawn 118 produces certain urban ecological behaviour resulting in: ‘an act of subjection, not only to 119 the lawn, but also to the ideology of community and the international economy of turf 120 maintenance’ (Robbins, 2007;16). Lawn people are constituted in and take meaning from 121 social relations and establish routines of behaviour including cutting, watering and weeding. 122 When social relations change a new urban political ecology will be produced (Loftus, 2012). 123 New patterns of lawn consumption are arising that may accord with, or disrupt, established 124 social practices and identities (Butler, 1997). Alternative plant types (Mustafa et al. 2010) 125 and synthetic materials (Francis 2018) are available for consumers who want to produce 126 different socio-natures or who face bio-physical, economic, temporal or spatial constraints 127 associated with aesthetics, environmental conditions, busy lifestyles and high-density living. 128 As the opening quote implies, a vibrant new form of artificial ground cover is emerging as a 129 viable choice (Bennett, 2009). In this paper we are interested in the emotional impact of 130 non-living artificial lawn landscapes. 131 132 Artificial grass matting is a simulation of grass blades constructed from synthetic polymers 133 (Francis 2018). Turfgrass lawns impose a set of relationships between people, grasses, 134 weeds, animals, chemicals, mowing machinery and the companies that supply goods and 135 services (Robbins, 2007). Synthetic lawns are destabilising prior relationships and 136 establishing new sociocommunal bonds, some of which are common to the familiar 137 turfgrass system and others that are new. When someone decides to use synthetic grass 138 they take on a new identify which we term an ‘artificial lawn person’. The Artificial lawn 139 people in our study discussed their identities and environmental management choices 140 online, including how they patronise new businesses, transform gardening practices, cease 141 mowing routines, alter nutrient cycles, disrupt animals that live in (and can defecate on) 142 lawns, and establish new cleaning regimes – brushing, washing and even vacuuming the 4 143 polymer blades. Subsequently they relate differently to their lawn people neighbours and 144 other remote observers of their most public private spaces. Some revel in their status as 145 artificial lawn people, while others struggle with their new cultural identity. In this article we 146 seek to understand how people, both proponents and opponents, feel about artificial lawns 147 and the emotional effect of becoming an artificial lawn person. 148 149 First we consider the changing norms and practices of lawn coverage. Next, we discuss our 150 methodology which introduces a secondary notion of an ‘artificial lawn person’; our primary 151 research was based upon a netnographic analysis of 948 online discussion forum posts 152 (Langer and Beckman, 2005). The personas of our subjects may be affected and mannered 153 by the anonymity afforded by online discussion and the advantages, appropriateness and 154 demerits of this research approach in a remote artificial space are critically reflected upon 155 (Bouchard, 2016). Thirdly, we position our contribution within a canonical study of lawn 156 people drawing principally from Robbins (2007), Harris et al. (2013) and Mustafa et al. 157 (2010). The next three sections explore in turn; i) emotional responses to artificial grass, ii) 158 the bio-physical affects, iii) and the environmental values. Finally, the conclusion discusses 159 how artificial grass is a signal example of the consumption of new synthetic materials that 160 replicate biota in the Anthropocene (Haraway 2015; Zalasiewi et al. 2016). 161 162 163 Lawn cultures 164 165 The embodying characteristics of lawns have been deeply culturally embedded. Even the 166 etymology of the word itself speaks of a transition from the semi-natural to the forcibly 167 managed. Originally used in sixteenth to eighteenth century English as a term to denote a 168 woodland glade or untilled, grass-covered land, by the mid-eighteenth century ‘launes, 169 lawnes and lawns’ referred to the closely-mown grassland associated with horticulture (OED 170 2018); a manicured ecosystem that Miller (1733) notes is best to ‘lie open to the 171 neighbouring Country and not pent up with Trees’. Weigert (1994) suggests that a dialectic 172 framework of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ lawns drives the social construction of the common form. 173 ‘Good’ lawns are dominated by dense, soft grasses with an absence of weeds, and maintain 174 a rich, healthy green colour, neatness (the grass is kept short and manicured) and 5 175 consistency (homogeneity is good, heterogeneity is bad). These characteristics are 176 associated with wealth, education and implicit moral worth; good neighbours have good 177 lawns. Maintenance of these ‘good’ characteristics constructs the cultural form and creates 178 social norms of lawn management, which are reinforced and replicated spatially and 179 temporally; even in unsympathetic climatic regions and among diverse social groups 180 (Mustafa et al. 2010). 181 182 The environmental impacts of living lawns are well-documented (Ignatieva et al. 2015), 183 including extensive and intensive use of chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides and 184 fertilisers (e.g. Robbins et al. 2001; Robbins and Birkenholtz 2003), relatively (though not 185 uniformly) low value as species habitat (Thompson et al. 2004), abundance of non-native 186 species (Stewart et al. 2009) and release of gases associated with urban heat island effects 187 and climate change (Livesley et al. 2010). Despite this, lawns do provide some ecosystem 188 services, such as recreation and wellbeing, rain infiltration, carbon sequestration; and poor 189 habitat is still habitat (Qian and Follett 2002; Francis, 2018). These services can be enhanced 190 with appropriate changes to management (Ignatieva et al. 2015). 191 192 Attempts to change the lawn’s cultural form have resulted in social conflict. As Trudgill et al. 193 (2010) note, the ‘curious obsessive fetishes of lawn management will not die easily’ (p. 179). 194 Robbins (2007) and Weigert (1994, p.87) highlight examples of the use of ‘moral coercion, 195 extralegal physical force and legal police power’ to enforce norms. Feagan and Ripmeester 196 (2001) note opposing ideologies between residents conforming to established ‘good’ lawn 197 social norms and those attempting to create more ecologically meaningful habitat in their 198 lawn space. Lawn maintenance is an emotional topic (Harris et al. 2013). Both groups 199 regarded their choice as being more ‘pure’ (culturally pure ‘good lawns’ for the former, and 200 organically pure for the latter), and the opposing forms as ‘out-of-place’. Further 201 diversification has led to two opposing directions of approach to lawns culture. The first is 202 the development of the living grass-free (or tapestry) lawn, wherein grass monocultures are 203 replaced by a more varied community of perennial (often clonal) forbs that are tolerant of 204 mowing (Smith, 2016). The prevalence of flowering plants in the lawn means that at 205 different times of the year, and dependent on mowing frequency, various patterns and 206 colours of lawn will emerge as the composition of flowers changes (hence the ‘tapestry’ 6 207 effect). Such lawns are not only aesthetically and horticultural interesting, but have 208 ecological benefits. For example, grass-free lawns support a greater diversity of plant 209 species, and phenological variation in flowering and seeding times creates a shifting mosaic 210 of resources for other organisms, particularly for invertebrates and pollinating species 211 (Smith, 2016). Such lawns represent an extension of recent trends in wildlife gardening, 212 which encourage heterogeneity in the wider residential garden, and are most likely to be 213 cultivated by environmentally-conscious lawn owners who ‘recognise the connection 214 between the backyard and the broader ecosystem’ and are less likely to think of their lawn 215 space as ‘an outdoor living room’ (Clayton and Myers, 2009, p. 103-104). For those 216 motivated by environmental concerns, or wishing to publicly demonstrate their 217 environmental awareness, grass-free lawns are an ‘opportunity to remind people of what 218 [the owners] value in nature’ (Clayton and Myers, 2009, p. 104). They also fulfil the lawn 219 owner’s intrinsic desires to exercise control over their domestic space (Gross and Lane, 220 2007), as the successful grass-free lawn requires careful maintenance, further enabling a 221 demonstration of gardening effort and expertise. Grass-free lawns are a pioneering 222 development and an attempt to foreground ecological concerns in the cultural form; yet 223 may be difficult to popularise as traditional ‘good’ lawn characteristics, driven by social 224 norms, are challenged. 225 226 The second emerging approach to lawn culture is the focus of our interest; the utilisation of 227 plastic grass to create artificial lawns as a non-living simulacrum of the desired cultural form 228 (Francis 2018). Plastic grass is also variously termed ‘artificial grass’ ‘artificial turf’ and 229 ‘synthetic turf’, amongst other labels; there is no single established term. It has evolved 230 through three broad generations of design and technology. First generation synthetic turfs 231 were developed in the 1960s, primarily for use on sports pitches, to avoid damage to grass 232 swards and increase durability of playing surfaces. These grasses were made from inflexible 233 nylon or polypropylene, and were both unrealistic and uncomfortable (Stanitski et al. 1974). 234 Second generation synthetic turf was generally composed of longer fibres and had other 235 materials in between, such as sand. The look and feel of these grasses was an improvement 236 on the first generation turf, but their usage was primarily the same. Third generation turf 237 has a range of different designs but is primarily manufactured from polyethylene fibres that 238 are mounted on an expanded polypropylene thatch and have an infill of sand and rubber 7 239 crumb (Francis, 2018). These materials both look and feel considerably more like lawn grass, 240 and has resulted in their application to a wide range of domestic and commercial 241 applications around the world. Francis (2018) noted that there are over 100 companies that 242 sell artificial grass in store or online in the UK alone, and that Artiticial-lawn.co.uk (2017) 243 lists 28 artificial lawn suppliers for the UK and Ireland, and 65 globally. There are multiple 244 variations of synthetic grass products, with Trulawn (2017) listing eight different types of 245 artificial grass, varying in fibre type, size, quality and colour. There seems to be a developing 246 market for artificial lawns. 247 248 The environmental impacts of artificial lawns are currently unknown (Francis, 2018). It is 249 suggested that some broad environmental benefits may result from the replacement of a 250 living lawn with its plastic counterpart; plastic grass needs no watering, mowing or chemical 251 applications, for example. However, many of the ecosystem services and emotional affects 252 that lawns do provide are likely to be impacted or negated in synthetic turf, including loss of 253 habitat, possible impacts on soil respiration, soil and air temperatures, drainage, and 254 pollution (Francis, 2018). Many of these impacts will be localised around the artificial lawn 255 itself, but with sufficient uptake, impacts will become more widespread and cumulative. 256 257 The third generation of synthetic turf creates the potential for realistic artificial lawns that 258 meet cultural expectations of a good lawn to be laid in domestic outdoor spaces. In many 259 ways, they are designed specifically to exceed requirements to stimulate consumers to 260 upgrade to artificial grasses; as to be more appealing they have to be superior to turfgrass. 261 In relation to Weigert’s (1994) ‘status theory’, artificial lawns address the ‘semiotics of 262 appearances’ (p. 83) most specifically, either by suppling the desired criteria or negating 263 their relevance, particularly in regard to the messy maintenance of a living system. They 264 present an ecological simulacrum (see Baudrillard 1994; Francis, 2018) of a culturally- 265 determined ecosystem while removing the biota that originally defined it. The living thing 266 has been exchanged for its sterile, simulated representation. 267 268 This absence of the living does mean that not all cultural aspects of the lawn are addressed 269 by synthetic grass; the simulated form is, after all, only superficial. Visual and haptic aspects 270 of the lawns may be satisfactory, but olfactory and auditory experiences may in turn be 8 271 compromised. Though such aspects tend not to be uppermost in considerations of outdoor 272 domestic space, it would be a mistake to downplay the wellbeing benefits that the smells 273 and sounds that the biota of gardens and lawns provide (Rhind 2014; Hedblom et al. 2017). 274 The ‘soft fascination’ (Cerwén et al. 2016) of socio-nature may become further removed as 275 the lawn user is increasingly distanced from wildlife (Lorimer 2016). Ultimately, artificial 276 lawns validate social norms but act in opposition to life, and perhaps this is the greatest 277 concern, and defining aspect, of such ecological simulacra (Francis 2018). Weigert (1994) 278 posited traditional lawns as examples of culture opposing life in their exclusion of native 279 weeds as species out of place, and as indicators that “[a]ssumptions that [life and culture] 280 are mutually supportive… must be reinterpreted” (p. 82). Synthetic grass and artificial lawns 281 are an extension of this expression of culture at the expense of nonhuman life, and flow 282 counter to emerging concerns about how best to live convivially and empathetically with 283 nonhumans in more-than-human spaces (Franklin, 2017). 284 285 286 Researching Artificial Lawn People 287 288 In order to research artificial lawn people, we were confronted by the challenge of locating 289 and sampling early adopters and other interested parties of what in the UK is an emerging 290 cultural phenomenon (Beck, 2018). A series of assumptions constrained our approach. 291 Firstly, identifying artificial lawn people to interview or survey was deemed unrealistic. Only 292 households with publicly visible artificial lawns could be identified and uptake is so sparse as 293 to make visual surveys via transects or other sampling techniques inefficient. Secondly, we 294 rejected the notion of working through an artificial grass retailer, because of concerns over 295 freedom of information and the bias of the sample towards happy customers, who it is 296 assumed would be more likely to engage in research (Graeff and Harmon, 2002). Thirdly, to 297 understand the wider cultural perceptions of artificial lawn people we wanted to 298 interrogate the perspectives of other people who were considering artificial grass, or who 299 decided against the synthetic material, as well as those who held opposing views, including 300 neighbours dissatisfied rather than impressed with the choices of adjacent artificial lawn 301 people. This led us to identify online discussion forums as the most accessible and 302 unmediated source for discourse and debate sounding the cultures of artificial lawns. 9 303 304 We selected www.mumsnet.com, because it is one of the UK’s most popular online hosts of 305 discussion forums (The Economist 2017). Mumsnet discussions are publicly visible without 306 registration. Originally established in 2000 as a website for parents, users now discuss a 307 wide range of topics stretching well beyond domestic issues. Importantly we decided not to 308 select a specialist gardening website, because it was assumed that a host such as mumsnet 309 would offer a more neutral public space for discussion, whereas specialist websites such as 310 www.gardenerscorner.co.uk and www.mygarden.rhs.org are constrained by the social 311 norms of devoted gardeners. As one mumsnet poster commented ‘I’m not a neat and tidy 312 garden lover’. After preliminary scoping research to select appropriate search terms we 313 undertook a search for the term ‘artificial grass’1 and sorted the results by relevance. We 314 then reviewed the top 50 discussion boards and eliminated discussions of artificial grass for 315 indoor and non-domestic applications, other off-topic discussions, and those boards with 316 fewer than three posts. This yielded a sample of 35 discussions, with 948 unique posts and a 317 total of 59,138 words of discussion, covering a period from 2006 to 2018. The median 318 number of posts per board was 14, but one board had 424 posts. This popular board had 319 transcended niche interest and featured extensive and animated discussion of the 320 environmental impacts of artificial grass which particular informs the analysis in section iii. 321 The discussion boards were downloaded to a Word file and manually coded. Within this 322 sample we reached a point of saturation with the reoccurrence of major themes in the data 323 (Davies, 2014). All posts that are quoted are anonymised of any identifying data (e.g. age, 324 occupation, location). 325 326 Online discussion gave people a relatively safe space for expression (Langer and Beckman, 327 2005). An opponent of artificial lawns felt that they ‘wouldn’t insult someone’s choice to 328 them’ but was liberated to speak freely online; whereas an artificial lawn owner wished to 329 preserve anonymity and was ‘attempting not to out myself’. An opponent of artificial grass 330 was frank about the freedom that remote online discussion afforded: ‘I would never say to 331 someone in real life that I think their fake lawn is tacky and bad for the environment but on 332 an anonymous thread where the op [original post: the user generated prompt for 1 https://www.mumsnet.com/info/search?q=artificial+grass on 13.03.2018 10 333 discussion] has specifically asked the question? I don't think it's unreasonable to say "yes, I 334 don't like it".’ A contributor to the forum with 424 posts commented that there was ‘so 335 much judgement on this thread’ highlighting the heated debate enabled by an online forum. 336 The engaged poly-vocality demonstrated is the sort of culturally-rich material that 337 researchers endeavour to establish in mediated face-to-face focus groups, with often 338 disappointing results (Stewart and Shamdasani 2014). Such comments illustrate the benefit 339 of the netnography methodology in obtaining unmediated opinions, although the 340 counterpoint is that discussion posts can be artificial and disingenuous. Internet forums 341 have been shown to be places of bullying (Bouchard 2016), and mumsnet has attracted 342 criticism for the use of expletives (The Economist, 2017), which featured prominently in the 343 heated discussion of artificial grass. Agent provocateurs my lurk online, accumulating 344 knowledge of an online community before ‘trolling’ them by making unsolicited and/or 345 deliberately controversial comments to disrupt, aggravate and lure participants into 346 arguments for their own amusement, rendering these artificial spaces unsafe and producing 347 disingenuous posts (Coles and West 2016). As these discussions were in the public domain 348 and not initiated by us as researchers the comments do have the advantage of being 349 independent and unprompted, whereas in other forms of active primary social research 350 participants are known to perform to the researchers (Cloke et al. 2004). The sample may be 351 biased towards heavy internet users and specifically parents (especially mothers) seeking 352 advice, whereas certain groups who lack access to the internet will be unrepresented from 353 the self-selecting sample (Behe et al. 2013). 354 355 356 The Preoccupations of Artificial Lawn People 357 358 Our inductive reading of the discussion posts led us to infer three important topics that 359 preoccupy artificial lawn people and their consorts: i) emotional responses, ii) bio-physical 360 affects and iii) environmental values. Each of these topics has figured prominently in 361 previous work on the lawn as a cultural form that has developed out of Lawn People. As well 362 as being an important text for the emerging sub-discipline of urban political ecology (Loftus, 363 2012; Heynen 2014), Robbins’ 2007 publication directly spurred further valuable cultural 364 analysis of the lawn, including by Harris et al. (2013) and Mustafa et al. (2010). 11 365 366 Firstly, the theme of emotional responses framed Harris et al.’s work on suburban yard 367 management practices in Boston, Massachusetts. Their work follows the emotional turn in 368 geography and allied disciplines whereby researchers rethought the connections between 369 people and things, between subjects and objects (Ahmed, 2004; Bennett 2009; Lorimer 370 2008). Robbins (2007) painted a picture of an anxious and guilty lawn person, whereas 371 Harris et al. reposition emotions as drivers as well as outcomes in lawn decisions. Emotions 372 are important in garden management and are complex and diverse; ‘even when yards 373 appeared homogenous, the homeowners’ emotional engagements with their yards 374 expressed considerable heterogeneity’ (2008, p351). Emotions worked to create collectives 375 of shared yard management in Boston resulting in ubiquitous turfgrass. In the UK this 376 arrangement is being materially challenged, albeit on a limited scale, by artificial grass. 377 Moreover, it is emotionally challenging for new (or potential) artificial lawn people to 378 disrupt and break a collective ecology. 379 380 Secondly, artificial lawn people are challenging preconceptions of what makes a good lawn 381 and producing a new urban political ecology. Plastic grass is a vibrant matter that has wider 382 affects (Bennett, 2009). They are changing their bio-physical relations with living organisms, 383 both non-human as well as human. Indeed, in most cases the artificial lawn will be situated 384 within a wider garden space, containing plants and soils that will support at least transitory 385 use by domestic and wild animals. Synthetic grass blades need cleaning to ensure they do 386 not present an unpleasant odour once ‘contaminated’ by life, whether through detritus 387 blown in by the wind, from defecation or from other sources. It becomes a medium for 388 bacteria that provoke disgust and raises concerns among garden users. Outside of the 389 immediate materiality of the synthetic grass, the lack of ‘life’ associated with artificial lawns 390 may also compromise their recreational utility, at least in the sense of engaging with the 391 outdoors. The chemical properties also provoke fears of their carcinogenic potential, 392 mirroring concerns of Robbins’ lawn people over the side-effects of input of nutrient 393 supplements and pest control substances. 394 395 Thirdly, the environmental impacts of artificial lawns at neighbourhood and global scales are 396 debates that recall the concern Mustafa et al. (2010) explored among ‘xeriscape people’ of 12 397 St Petersburg, Florida. Xeriscaping using drought resistant plant species emerged in water- 398 deficient regions of the US as an alternative to traditional high-input lawns. The xeriscapers 399 displayed their cultural capital by planting species requiring little water, energy or chemical 400 inputs and performed on an environmentalist register at an imagined global scale, whereas 401 at the neighbourhood and national scales there was opposition to non-turfgrass ground 402 cover, which broke from collective management practices. Similar multi-scalar contested 403 environmental values and the associated cultural politics stemming from artificial lawn 404 adoption (or resistance) are discussed in our final section of analysis. 405 406 407 i) Emotional responses to artificial grass 408 409 One conclusion we soon drew is that artificial grass is polarising and many of the sample 410 held emotionally strong opposing positions. Multiple discussions were initiated by original 411 posts that shared a dilemma concerning if they should install artificial grass (or remove it 412 from a new home) and seeking opinions, as these titles illustrate: ‘Artificial grass naff or a 413 godsend?’, ‘Artificial grass – hit or miss?’ and ‘To dig up the bloody lawn and replace it with 414 AstroTurf?’. Original posts initiated often heated debate. As one poster astutely observed 415 ‘I’d imagine it is a bit like marmite’ (Marmite is a dark brown yeast extract food paste that 416 notoriously divides British public opinion). To provide an overall picture of the sample, a 417 tally of positive and negative opinions across all 948 of the posts revealed 186 (19.6%) in 418 favour of artificial grass versus 157 (16.6%) against, with the remainder being questions, 419 observations, neutral opinions, advice, technical discussions and other issues. It would be an 420 ecological fallacy to assume this in anyway quantifies the divide in British public opinion, as 421 it is a self-selecting sample of people who are engaging in a public debate, but it does 422 suggest that there are widely held positions for and against the use of artificial grass. 423 424 Critical posters found it ‘awful’ ‘naff’ ‘super weird’ and even ‘gross’. Some could not face the 425 thought of it (‘I couldn’t put the fake stuff down’) and felt that it was an affront to 426 established gardening practices: ‘you have to treat it like carpet’. The opinions against 427 artificial grass represented the orthodox of traditional turfgrass lawn people and a desire to 13 428 maintain the collective neighbourhood appearances (Harris et al. 2013). As one disgruntled 429 lawn person complained: ‘Our neighbours have one, it looks ridiculously bright and very 430 obviously fake; I’d be disappointed if I was them’ and another felt that a nearby home 431 ‘Looks like a green grocers display’. There were further concerns about the absence of the 432 haptic, olfactory and auditory cues that turfgrass affords in addition to an unsatisfactory 433 visual experience. Environmental considerations framed some of the most entrenched 434 opposition, reflecting biophilic tendencies and situating some posts within wider concerns 435 about loss of habitat, as well as negative impacts on the posters’ environmentally-sensitive 436 identities: ‘I would miss the smell and feel of the real thing, but I am concerned about it as it 437 destroys habitats for the local wildlife’. Critics included those who could not face becoming 438 artificial lawn people after moving in to a property where it was installed ‘We had it in our 439 old house… Got rid really quickly… I’m glad you’re getting rid! It so bad for the environment 440 ’. While another user had deep regrets. They installed it in their ‘swamp’ of a back garden 441 and were very dissatisfied: ‘I hate it. I absolutely Hate hate hate the look. I am busy 442 overcompensating by planting loads and loads of container plants.’ 443 444 The opinions of the most enthusiastic proponents of artificial lawns were as ardent as the 445 opponents, which included ‘I LOVE it’, ‘It’s bliss’, ‘a dream’ and ‘the best thing I ever did in 446 the garden’. Robbins (2007) raises a concern about the obligation that lawn maintenance 447 places upon people. For some reluctant gardeners artificial lawns offered a welcome release 448 from the routines of maintaining a homogeneous living lawn. It also removed some of the 449 material problems of turfgrass including the transport of mud into the home. Artificial grass 450 was advantageous because it: ‘Looks good, no hayfever, great for children, no lawnmowing’. 451 Utility was an important factor for stimulating the decision to become an artificial lawn 452 person, many of whom were busy parents with young children: ‘It’s fantastic! The garden is 453 useable 365 days a year.’ The positive responses were nuanced and not unambiguous. A 454 pattern emerged from the discussion with a consensus among proponents that it was 455 important that the ‘right type’ of artificial lawn was used. This was key in forming a positive 456 identity, as a good artificial lawn person was one that was realising the simulation of 457 turfgrass in the right way and producing a good version of a traditional lawn. This normally 458 meant installing synthetic grass in small gardens and selecting expensive high-quality 459 material that was as close as possible to being a visual simulation of the idealised form of 14 460 turfgrass lawn. Here, for instance, are two contrasting opinions based on high and low-price 461 products: ‘It cost twice what we thought it would but is lovely!!’ and ‘It doesn’t look good 462 but I think it’s the cheaper stuff’. Synthetic materials that provided an authentic replication 463 of turfgrass were highly valued: ‘It has a fine texture and is brown mixed with green so it 464 looks more real.’ These observations demonstrate that there are particular socially 465 constructed expectations associated with being a good artificial lawn person and that the 466 attributes of the non-living grass were important for forming identity. 467 468 469 ii) Bio-physical affects 470 471 For those mumsnet contributors unfamiliar with the materiality of polyethylene grasses, the 472 most intriguing aspect was the new relationships forged between non-living artificial lawns 473 and living objects: children, wild and domestic animals, their urine and the bacteria in their 474 faeces; dead leaves and other organic debris, and weeds. Artificial lawn people established 475 new cleaning regimes to tackle various forms of dirt. Generally artificial lawns represented a 476 low maintenance solution, although the primary concern was cleaning animal waste and the 477 associated risks to human health posed by bacteria. Emotions of fear and disgust are 478 common in mediating environmental interactions (Bixler and Floyd, 1997), and it is 479 unsurprising that this stood out as artificial lawn people negotiated new relationships and 480 tested the emergence of new acceptable behaviours. This was the dedicated topic of four of 481 the discussion boards and featured prominently elsewhere. Various methods of removal 482 and cleaning using detergents, water hoses and other means were discussed among 483 artificial lawn people, including the ‘do nothing’ approach and allowing animal waste to 484 infiltrate the permeable matting. Synthetic fibres were even considered superior to 485 turfgrass by some artificial lawn people in terms of offering a stable material, where the 486 homogeneous appearance was impervious to urine stains and easy to clean: ‘No more 487 yellow patches from dog wee, easy to pick up dog muck and disinfect’. Most artificial users 488 were satisfied with their cleaning methods. Meanwhile, those resistant to artificial lawns 489 expressed anxiety, which included fears over letting their children play on neighbours’ 490 artificial lawns even after they had been cleaned of visible animal waste. 491 15 492 Secondary was the problem of removing dead leaves and other plant matter. For artificial 493 lawn people this task was relatively simple using a brush, specialist leaf vacuum or a 494 standard household vacuum appliance, yet among proponents and opponents alike the new 495 regimes were novel and disquieting as they were outside of established norms of domestic 496 practice (Shove 2003). ‘I am reminded of a friend of my dad who used to be out on his fake 497 lawn with a Hoover while everyone else was mowing!’ Such practices drew unwanted social 498 attention: ‘…hoover it and feel like a total idiot.’ Becoming an artificial lawn person, was a 499 means of avoiding some of the onerous responsibilities of turfgrass maintenance, but 500 sometimes the outcome was unsatisfactory. For one lawn person the neighbour’s artificial 501 lawn provided a source of condescending amusement: ‘And because he didn’t clean it 502 properly it now has weeds growing in it. How we laughed’. Owning an artificial lawn 503 ultimately meant a battle against entropy. One prescient observation was that ‘Admittedly 504 after 8 or 10 years or so it looks a bit tired’. Rather than being a permanent solution to the 505 cultural problem of lawn maintenance polythene blades represented a temporary fix. 506 Artificial lawn people would have to purchase a new lawn at considerable economic cost 507 and were supporting a growing industry. Prices quoted in the discussions ranged between 508 £16 and £50 per square meter or £200 to £20,000 for a garden, with a typical cost of £4,000 509 for a new or replacement artificial lawn. 510 511 A key motivation for installing artificial grass was to provide a durable and safe playing 512 surface for children; an important concern for many gardeners (Clayton, 2007). Synthetic 513 materials were well regarded in terms of their robustness and the comfortable environment 514 they afforded for play, but there were further anxieties common to both users and non- 515 users about safety for children. A relatively minor issue in Britain (at the moment), but one 516 that may hamper the spread of artificial lawns in warmer climates, is the over-heating of the 517 material in summer ‘when it was really warm weather last summer [25+ degrees centigrade] 518 we had to put picnic blankets down.’ More serious, yet less immediately apparent, were 519 fears over possible carcinogenic effects of artificial lawn materials. A high profile case of 520 leukaemia associated with artificial turf football pitches in the Netherlands resulted in the 521 removal of 300 pitches, which catalysed debate on discussion boards (Wells, 2016). As one 522 concerned parent wrote: ‘The links between crumb rubber and cancers have already been 523 noted. It's not for me’. Research elsewhere has explored the risks, which lie beyond the 16 524 scope of this article, particularly as a diverse range of artificial grass products may have 525 different chemical attributes (Zhang et al., 2008). But our research demonstrates that the 526 perceived risk was influencing some decision-making processes. Robbins (2007) explored 527 how the uses of chemical inputs created anxieties among lawn people about risks to human 528 health, and that the cultural imperative to maintain a turfgrass lawn was more persuasive in 529 influencing the actions of gardeners than their uncertain knowledge of the chemicals’ 530 carcinogenic potential. A different set of anxieties associated with an unfamiliar material 531 and the unknown long-term health implications surround the adoption of artificial lawns, 532 but artificial lawn people also reconcile these ambiguities in their pursuit of an appropriate 533 ‘good’ lawn. 534 535 iii) Environmental values 536 537 The environmental impacts of artificial lawns were discussed at two distinct scales; the local 538 neighbourhood and globally. At the neighbourhood scale, debates again touched on 539 biophilic and ecological concerns, revolving around the negative effects of artificial lawns on 540 local birds, worms, bees and other organisms. One opponent was relieved not to have 541 encountered them in their community, because ‘the locals obviously have better taste and a 542 decent conscience’ with regard to wildlife; an observation perhaps reflecting concerns over 543 the potential erosion of an environmentally-conscious community identity. Underpinning 544 some of the negative environmental perceptions were socio-economic interests. The 545 perceived lack of care and attention required of artificial lawn people was a proxy for poor 546 citizenship and thus contributed to an undesirable image of the neighbourhood and had a 547 potential impact upon house prices. A prospective house buyer felt ‘When looking at houses 548 it was a real turn off’. In essence, people who were not good turfgrass lawn people did not 549 make good neighbours (Mustafa et al. 2010). In contrast, artificial lawn people were 550 defensive and drew attention to the limited scale of their garden and the negative effect 551 associated with other turfgrass alternatives such as decking, paving, unmanaged land as 552 well as low quality turfgrass: ‘I don’t see how a dismal mud patch is superior in any way to a 553 few square meters of (good) fake grass’. 554 17 555 At a global scale the market for alternatives to turfgrass lawn has been shaped by 556 environmental change (Mustafa et al. 2010). Artificial lawn retailers and manufacturers 557 highlight that synthetic replacements require a reduced input of water, energy, pesticides 558 and chemical supplements alongside little domestic labour. One way in which they draw 559 attention to these attributes is by positioning artificial grass as an appropriate response to 560 anthropogenic climate change: ‘UK garden lawns battle extreme weather patterns as a 561 result of rising global temperatures... A fake lawn offers a year-round solution, as well 562 as valuable maintenance savings for your pocket, your planet and your time.’ (Easigrass, 563 2018). At the individual household scale artificial grass may represent a rational (and 564 pseudo-sustainable) adaptive response to a changing climate, but absent from such 565 marketing narratives is the broader negative environmental effects of polythene 566 manufacture, disposal and subsequent replacement (as frequently as every 8 years). At 567 greater scales the cumulative effect of widespread artificial grass adoption would 568 potentially be very damaging. 569 570 However, the arguments of retailers resonated among some of our sample who 571 championed the environmental ‘benefits’ of artificial materials and who expressed the 572 opinion that synthetic lawns were less harmful than well-maintained living lawns: ‘petrol 573 mowers, fertiliser and sprinklers are not being kinder to the environment than someone 574 with plastic grass and a broom’ and ‘How is it bad for the environment, my garden no longer 575 floods… I’m no longer using weed killer… Oh it’s got rid of most of the snails and slugs so my 576 flower bed and pots are growing flowers and fruit’. This second poster recognised ‘the 577 environment’ to be a particular manicured form of socio-nature devoid of weeds, snails and 578 slugs. Contested public understanding of ‘the environment’ contributed to the debate 579 (Carter, 2001). Some artificial lawn people argued that it was not such a bad environmental 580 choice in comparison to established lawn practices: ‘‘real’ grass is a monoculture and not 581 particularly good for wildlife either’ and ‘unless you all have natural meadow and don’t even 582 “garden” then it’s a bit hypocritical.’ Such arguments reflected a position commonly held 583 among artificial lawn people that their choices were an expression of rationality and 584 innovation whereas resistance to artificial grass was unreasonably conservative. For them 585 the environmental values of opposing lawn people served as a veil to hide behind, which 586 concealed a resistance to modernisation: ‘fake lawns are new and people tend to complain 18 587 about something new initially as if it’s the harbinger of doom. 50 years ago people were 588 doing the same about washing machines or cars. I bet the majority of people who are citing 589 the environmental woe of fake grass have both.’ 590 591 Some spirited arguments came from the artificial lawn people, but the environmental 592 counterpoints that emerged were expressed with greater vigour. Opponents of artificial 593 lawns were quick to highlight the wider environmental costs: ‘Artificial grass is massively 594 bad for the environment, in manufacture, in laying and in the prevention of growing of 595 plants, and movements of insects and animals’. It aroused intense feelings: ‘It is a 596 catastrophe’ and ‘I despair a little about the human race when we feel the need to carpet 597 outdoors’. The emerging trend was equated with dystopian futures and the landscapes 598 inhabited by characters from popular fiction such as the ‘Lorax’ and ‘Wall-E’ and an identikit 599 ‘Lego environment’. In contrast occasional discussions of more ecologically diverse living 600 plant landscapes that could replace turfgrass lawns e.g. meadow landscapes, ground ivy, 601 and mixed species grasses, occasionally arose within the artificial grass forums. 602 603 Even some committed artificial lawn people were self-aware of the broader impacts of their 604 decisions to install a synthetic material, and of those some went on to justify their lawn 605 choice by highlighting other garden features: ‘The downsides are obviously the 606 environmental. We’ve put raised beds in and done lots of planting to try to offset it...’ or 607 other positive environmental contributions in their broader cultural lives. There were also 608 rebuttals of lawn people’s reification of turfgrass. One artificial grass person found their 609 attitudes condescending and hypocritical: ‘Those using bad for the environment are you 610 using peddle bikes to produce your electric for daily showers and recycling your water, I 611 could go on.’ 612 613 This last point is indicative of a broader sense of self-confidence among many artificial lawn 614 people. Occasionally they reacted aggressively to criticism about their gardens, starkly 615 illustrating the difficult choices that encompass becoming an artificial lawn person and 616 taking the opportunity to fully express themselves on an anonymous online discussion 617 board: ‘I don’t get on with anyone. I am a horrid, selfish person who doesn’t give a shit 618 about anything or anyone. BUT I have a nice garden I can actually spend time in now. By 19 619 myself. That suits me just fine.’ 620 provocative anti-environmental views (‘I say fuck the insects’) in the defence of what they 621 saw as their individual choice for their private gardens. In becoming an artificial lawn 622 person, they had adopted what Don Mitchell (2005) identified as the persona of the ‘purely 623 atomic’ individual who exerts their right to be left alone and act as they wish in both public 624 and private spaces. A minority of artificial lawn people even expressed 625 626 627 Conclusion: Artificial Lawns as ‘Synthetic Nature’ 628 629 Neighbourhood environmental politics is being transformed by new artificial products and 630 debated in new public realms. As such, research needs to be attentive to these emerging 631 dynamics and the emotionally affective landscapes that are produced. We have determined 632 that domestic use of synthetic grass is a polarising, emotionally charged issue. All of the 633 discussion board participants have independently acted to publicly debate the value of 634 turfgrass and artificial lawns, showing that they care about their neighbourhood 635 environments. The new landscapes that are being produced are vitally important as spaces 636 of recreation; there are concerns for human and nonhuman health and impacts upon 637 aesthetics and property values. Our argument presented here is different to Robbins’ work 638 on lawn people (2007); rather than artificial lawns ‘producing’ artificial lawn people we 639 argue our evidence demonstrates that artificial lawn owners implicitly identify as artificial 640 lawn people and in tandem opponents of artificial lawns reinforce their identities as ‘good 641 lawn’ people. This is not to say that artificial lawn people are not subjected a la Robbins, but 642 that to investigate this would require further work on how artificial lawn people become 643 subjects of an ideology (Althusser, 1971). This could be better achieved through more 644 intensive methods and fieldwork in artificial grass landscapes with consumers. Our work 645 showcases both the opportunities and limits associated with a netnography. It empirically 646 illustrates the emotional importance of domestic lawns through extensive and engaged 647 polyvocal debate, and shows that personal experiences of micro-scale environmental 648 changes can fire great concerns. Our netnography demonstrates how environmental politics 649 can be researched through such new methodologies and away from the physical landscapes 650 being debated. Yet the other side of the coin is that the often abstract and decontextualized 20 651 discussion and the complete anonymity of the voices limits the insights that can be 652 developed into a further understanding of the ideologies underpinning artificial lawn 653 peoples’ behaviours and identities. 654 655 The deep roots of turfgrass lawns stem from a Northern European representation of the 656 ways in which the prehistorical wilderness, tamed, reshaped and remade since the forest 657 clearances and agricultural development of the Neolithic, has been ultimately mastered in 658 the industrial age. Lawns have become one of the most culturally embedded visual 659 representations of the Anthropocene (Castree 2018). Turfgrasses appear as timeless, 660 appropriate and inevitable ground cover sustained through social behaviours in accordance 661 with established cultural practices (Robbins, 2007). Artificial lawns present a departure from 662 modern regimes of lawn management and disrupt existing socio-communal bonds. Here we 663 do not make any teleological assumption that artificial lawns will increase with time, but 664 rather that the behaviours of lawn people will fluidly adjust to cultural norms, living and 665 non-living objects, and changing physical environments (Bennett 2009). Through this article 666 we have used the language of proponents and opponents of artificial lawns, drawing from 667 the consistent binary divisions in the online discussions. Yet such a dialectic is unsatisfactory 668 as artificial lawn people are really a sub-category of lawn people. They do not exist in 669 opposition to the traditional lawn form, but instead embody the fluid relationships between 670 different materials and people: between objects and subjects. What emerges from these 671 emotional perspectives is an obvious desire across both opponents and proponents for an 672 idealised lawn that has the associated traditional, culturally embedded, values of a perfect 673 turfgrass lawn (Weigert 1994), yet a polarisation in opinion as to whether the use of 674 synthetic materials is an acceptable means of achieving a domestic garden that resembles 675 such an ideal. Artificial lawn people are trying to create ‘a good lawn’. The synthetic lawn 676 meets (most of the) cultural expectations of a ‘good’ lawn – green, uniform, neat – more 677 effectively than a real lawn ever could, but what is contested is if the social, economic and 678 environmental costs of this simulation are worth paying. In this sense both groups were 679 adhering to a broader ideology of good citizenship. 680 681 Most opponents of artificial lawns in our sample favour the living turfgrass ‘good lawn’, but 682 there was a second category that were more sensitive to environmentalism and ecological 21 683 diversity. Indeed, opponents fell into the same two sub-categories that Feagan and 684 Ripmeester (2001) identified. On the one hand those lawn people wanting to grow the 685 perfect turfgrass lawn and on the other people attempting to create more ecologically 686 meaningful habitat (see also Mustafa et al. 2010). The former privilege the maintenance of 687 the status quo and in particular are invested in the perceived collective neighbourhood 688 economic, and narrowly defined environmental, benefits of a community of good turfgrass 689 lawns (Robbins, 2007). The latter are preoccupied by environmental degradation and 690 ecological diversity at various scales from the local to the global and although they may be 691 sceptical of the turfgrass lawn as a habitat, and in a few instances advocate its replacement 692 with other living plants, they perceive the artificial lawn to be a dangerous further 693 downgrading of urban habitats. These concerns are even shared by some artificial lawn 694 people who populate their gardens with additional living plants to ‘compensate’ for their 695 sterile lawns. 696 697 Artificial lawns represent a replacement of a living form with a non-living synthetic 698 substitute that occupies the same cultural niche but, in some way, exceeds the original 699 organic form, it is the creation of a socio-nature based on the synthetic or more concisely a 700 ‘synthetic nature’. There is nothing new or novel in this per se. In such a regard it is similar 701 to the widespread use of other synthetic materials, like textiles yarns including acrylics and 702 polyesters that have replaced cottons, wools and other ‘natural fibres’, the proliferation of 703 plastics and composites in place of wood in furniture and other construction materials, and 704 the use of plastic flowers in interior decorating. What sets the artificial lawn apart from 705 these products of industrial capitalism is that a living rather than a dead material is 706 replaced. And yet as our research illustrated some of the greatest anxieties arise from the 707 ways in which this non-living material is not aseptic nor proven to be benign. Artificial grass 708 interacts with other forms of life: children at play, dogs defecating, transient insects and 709 birds, weeds, leaves, bacteria and humus. 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