Factoid Friday: Typical SoCal Backyard Goes Unused
Those lush backyard
gardens throughout Southern California sure are pretty. Too bad they’re mostly
empty.
"Life
at Home in the Twenty-First Century: 32 Families Open Their Doors,"
a recent UCLA
study of 32 L.A. households over four years, sheds an interesting light on the
behaviors of middle class families in Southern California. Among the findings: “nearly
three-fourths of the Los Angeles parents and about half of the children spent
no leisure time in their backyards over the course of the study. They
could not manage to carve out time to relax, play, eat, read or swim outside,
despite the presence of such pricey features as built-in pools, spas, dining
sets and lounges.”
"Families are overscheduled yet very sedentary at home. The ideal of indoor–outdoor living — the California dream since the 1950s — seems increasingly out of reach," said study co-author Jeanne Arnold, a UCLA archaeologist.
Something to think about considering landscaping is the largest source of residential water use in the San Diego region, totaling 55% of consumption.
For more on the UCLA study, click here.
(Photo credit: J. Arnold and CELF)
Source: "Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century: 32 Families Open Their Doors," June 2012: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/trouble-in-paradise-new-ucla-book.aspx
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