Back in the 1990s, I went on a mission to measure and photograph the lawns of City of Toronto Councillors. Many were on the cusp of legality.
Like many municipalities, Toronto regulates the height of lawn grass at 20 cm (8 in). It’s the main method the City uses to ensure maintenance of “neglected” yards.
Why do we care how high someone’s lawn grows? I’m asking this in all seriousness.
It’s useful to consider what threats unmaintained lawn pose.
One often hears that long lawns harbour rodents, but this is not specific to long lawns—it’s specific to hiding places and garbage and rodent food and living in cities. And at any rate, most municipalities already have bylaws that mandate rodent control, so if a neglected yard is a rat factory, there are existing mechanisms that cities (and neighbours) can enlist to deal with the problem.
However they are dressed up, height restrictions for lawn grass are purely and simply aesthetic regulations used as a convenient stand-in for an altogether different issue: neglect as a threat to “property value.”
The whole idea of a property’s value is constructed by social agreement. A long lawn can be said to diminish a property’s value only because we (whoever that is) agree that it does.
What would happen if we instead valued a yard according to its ecological value? Long lawn grass, allowed to flower and feed insects with pollen and nectar, would win every ecological contest compared to manicured lawns if one were to measure insect value, water use, energy use herbicide use…
It’s more than a theoretical question to ask why we care how high someone’s lawn grows. The answer has consequences—on the ground.