Gräsmattans "vara eller icke vara" : En undersökning av den traditionella gräsmattans moderna dilemma

Sammanfattning: The traditional lawn is believed to be facing a dilemma. On one hand, it is valuable for people because of its esthetical and functional values. On the other hand, the lawn is perceived as a monoculture without biological diversity that hinders the domestic landscape’s flora and fauna. In this graduation-thesis, the private and public lawn’s dilemma of “to be or not to be”, is examined from these two different perspectives. The following questions were formulated to answer this: 1) How did the lawn come into existence and what values has it had for people throughout the years? 2) What esthetical and functional values do public and private lawns have for people today? 3) Is it possible to identify a tendency that the lawn is on its way out?   A survey was used as the primary method to answer these questions, in addition to literature-studies. The survey was published between October 24 and 28, 2014, in the Facebook-group “KÖKSTRÄDGÅRDEN – Le Potager – The Kitchen Garden”. 158 respondents completed the entire survey.   This study shows that the lawn’s historical values have foremost been to function as expressions of power, as areas for sports, playing and recreation and as an esthetical factor. These values remain important today but additionally a tendency of people valuing a well-kept and environmentally-friendly lawn can be identified. It was not possible to identify tendencies that the lawn is on its way out. It was, however, possible to conclude that a redefinition of the lawn is possibly about to begin.