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Do other Western countries have this insidious "lawn" culture too? Or is it an American thing?
It starts from the feudal castle mentality. Having a clear field around your castle so no attacking forces can sneak up to the walls was a strategy to retain power. Archers along the top of the walls could defend the castle because there was no cover or concealment available for a vast radius from the walls.
This later becomes the 'estate' of the royals. Eventually they would have manicured 'gardens' as well, but having a vast clear area around the manor or whatever was traditional at that point. Then suburban development uses this 'castle' mindset to create the single family home surrounded by a green lawn with very little landscaping or trees etc. A commodity form that gestures to the castle archetype for the 'middle class'. This is also why the 'white picket fence' was a crucial part of the original suburban ideal. It's a mini stockade.
Also most peasants and poorer people in general relied heavily on subsistence farming till far into the 20th century, and a clear field/“lawn” indicated you were rich enough to the point where you could buy your food and not worry about feeding yourself.
Yes, this alongside the enclosure that came along of common lands. It's the aesthetics of 'old wealth' repackaged for the common folk. This is partly why I recommend Ways of Seeing to new lefties all the time. So much of the cultural aesthetics of western capitalism has been directly lifted from aristocratic cultures of Europe and just slightly repackaged. There's even 'old Hollywood' aesthetics that are like a xerox of a xerox, etc.
So much of the cultural aesthetics of western capitalism has been directly lifted from aristocratic cultures of Europe and just slightly repackaged.
The prevalence of children's stories involving kings, queens and princesses is something that has bothered me more than it should.
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In The Netherlands and Belgium we have problems with people laying their entire garden full of concrete or tiles, or sometimes lawns. The tiles are responsible for hotter areas in neighborhoods who have to much of them and they also fuck with the ground water level.
This tradition is technically a European one and has been for probably over a 1000 years at this point. I would assume that it’s present somewhere in Europe.
We also have it in Denmark