Greening Green Spaces: An Action Plan for Transforming City-Owned Lawns In Northampton

To promote sustainability and climate resilience, cities like Northampton, MA, are transforming traditional turfgrass lawns to incorporate low-maintenance ground covers. These changes can reduce costs, conserve resources, and support pollinator populations and native plant biodiversity. This paper offers recommendations for converting city-owned lawns into sustainable alternatives. Our approach involved consulting field experts, conducting a comprehensive literature review, and performing an aerial imagery analysis. Based on these findings, we mapped city-owned green spaces, categorizing them by size to inform adaptation options. By the end of the semester, our goal was to create three tiers of intervention, organized by cost and complexity, to give the city flexible options for lawn conversion. For each size category, we selected pilot sites to provide site-specific recommendations. Our research identified white clover seeding as a viable low-cost intervention, while meadowscaping and Miyawaki forests were recommended as more comprehensive, high-impact options. All interventions benefit native species, and each is designed to require less maintenance than the current turfgrass model. Ultimately, we aim to highlight the advantages of more resilient green spaces and provide the City of Northampton with a viable implementation strategy. Our final site recommendations include transforming Industrial Drive Park into a Miyawaki forest, converting part of Ray Ellerbrook field into an extensive-developed meadow with carved creeping thyme walking paths, and implementing solar grazing at the Northampton Solar Farm.