Cemeteries as Sustainable Urban Green Space: Case Studies from the United States and Sweden

Ruth A Rae (NYU Tandon School of Engineering)
Johan J Östberg (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)

Cemeteries are important green spaces in urban environments, offering nature’s benefits to city residents. As historical and cultural landscapes they hold shared social meanings for the public. Their natural resources offer aesthetic and sustainable environmental benefits to urban areas. As cities around the world increase in density, and the number of urban green spaces decrease, the role of cemeteries as urban parks is becoming increasingly important.

This study explores the historical and modern use of cemeteries as urban green spaces in the United States and Sweden. Using a cross-cultural lens, it compares the differences in the governance of cemeteries to explore cultural meanings and current social uses, and explores historical as well as modern landscape management practices and techniques. Case studies of the Green-Wood cemetery in Brooklyn, New York in the United States and the Östra kyrkogården (Eastern cemetery) in Malmö, Sweden are compared. The case studies methods included site observations, photography, event participation and semi-structured interviews with managers in both cemeteries.

The ownership and management of cemeteries influence the use and maintenance of cemeteries. Cemeteries in Sweden are financed by a special burial tax, which provides public financing for both the burial and the maintenance of all green spaces within the cemetery, while in the United States most cemeteries are privately owned and managed. Some of the older North- Eastern American cemeteries, including Green-Wood Cemetery in New York, were large rural cemeteries in their time and have a long history of also being used as parks. In many Nordic countries, cemeteries provide an important urban green space resource that are well utilized by the public as de-facto urban parks where they offer settings for exercise, tranquility and shade. In both the UnitedStates and Scandinavian cemeteries contain many mature trees and provide urban forestry resources.

Many cemeteries have important cultural values as historical landscapes and through their long history can illustrate changing views about landscape design and management. There have been many shifts in the use of the Swedish cemeteries and in the case study of Östra kyrkogården there has been a change in the last ten years where it is now more socially accepted to exercise in the cemetery. Green-Wood Cemetery is working today to be considered a public garden by expanding their public programming and botanical amenities as well as their role in environmental advocacy through projects and collaborations, both scientific and educational. This study documents these changes over time, and the visions that both Green-Wood cemetery and the Östra kyrkogården have for their future. In doing so, this research also identifies changing trends in the use of cemeteries in modern urban environments found in the United States and Sweden.