Guest post by Sarah Gerhardt

Many people have a greenspace right on their doorstep: their front garden. Yet, when thinking of green spaces, parks and larger back gardens come to mind much more readily. Front gardens often receive little attention, and many have been converted into parking spaces. 

In this article, I will look into the history of front gardens in Scotland. I will discuss the benefits of front gardens and the drawbacks of paving them up. Finally, I will explore how we can find compromises that retain some of the benefits of front gardens while also addressing the shortage of residential parking.

A brief history of front gardens in Scotland

Historically, front gardens in Scottish cities were mostly reserved for the wealthy, while working-class families lived in high-density tenements. In the early to mid 18th century, wealthy merchants began moving away from polluted city centres, building detached or semi-detached homes called villas on the outer edges of the major cities. These were some of the earliest urban dwellings in Scotland to feature intentionally designed decorative front gardens.

Examples include Minto Street in Edinburgh (1810), which was built on the southern edge of the city and pioneered private, set-back front plots. The Grange (1820s-1830s), also in Edinburgh, was developed on former quarry and farmland, and strict rules applied to the look of walls, lawns and shrubs in the front gardens.

By the mid-1800s, entire neighbourhoods with front gardens were built. The wealthy villa concept influenced the development of the first “garden suburbs” in West Pollokshields in Glasgow, where every villa included private front lawns, drives and flowerbeds that were maintained to create a consistent garden character.

The Edinburgh Colonies (1852), built by the Edinburgh Co-operative Building Company, were unusual in that they did not cater to the wealthy. Instead, they aimed to help artisans and skilled working-class families to escape the unhealthy inner-city tenement lifestyle. The cleverly designed terraced houses were built as double flats, with an upper and lower flat. The upper flat’s front door was located on the opposite side to the lower flat’s front door, allowing each flat to have its own private front garden. The first of several of these colonies was built in Pilrig in 1852.

Slowly, front gardens started to develop from a middle-class luxury into a common feature of urban housing. Private developers realised that front gardens helped to sell houses, and entire areas of cities were developed with smaller, terraced, or semi-detached villas explicitly targeting the expanding lower-middle class. Even in urban tenement design, architects began pushing blocks back from the street pavement. Buildings like those in Hyndland and Partickhill (Glasgow) or Marchmont (Edinburgh) introduced tiny, railed front plots to separate the ground-floor windows from the public footpath.

From civic pride to paved over plots

The 1919 Housing Act completely transformed Scottish urban planning by introducing state-funded social housing. Influenced by Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City Movement, planners moved away from traditional high-density tenement blocks towards housing with gardens.

Among these developments were the Four-in-a-Block cottage flat, which emerged in the 1920s. It grouped four double-storey flats under one roof, with a layout that gave each tenant a private front and back garden, separated by a fence. In addition, large cottage-based municipal estates were laid out with deep-set front lawns and hedges designed to encourage civic pride and healthy living. Examples include Logie in Dundee (1919), areas in Gorgie/Slateford in Edinburgh (1920s) and Mosspark in Glasgow (1920s).

The New Towns Act of 1946 brought further changes. Purpose-built towns such as Cumbernauld (1956) and the later development phases of Glenrothes (1948) often used designs that deliberately separated people from cars. The front of the house faced shared pedestrian pathways and green spaces, while vehicles and service roads were moved to the back.

However, in most cases, back gardens remained private spaces used for drying laundry, growing vegetables and providing a safe area for children. Front gardens served as a visible connection between the home and the wider community. They acted as a buffer, separating domestic life from the public street. Because they were visible to neighbours and passers-by, they also encouraged casual interaction. A few words exchanged over a hedge or front gate helped strengthen neighbourhood ties and created opportunities for people to get to know one another. Front gardens also showcased horticultural skill through formal flower beds and neatly clipped hedges.

For much of the 20th century, a well-kept front garden was the ultimate symbol of respectability and civic pride, cutting across all social classes. In planned industrial towns and model mining villages such as Newtongrange, communities established horticultural societies. Miners contrasted their dark working environments underground by spending hours creating bright front garden displays. Local councils and housing developers regularly hosted front garden competitions and flower shows. Neglecting lawns or overgrown hedges could attract social judgement.

However, rising car ownership in post-war Britain contributed to the gradual decline of the front garden. Households without garages began removing parts of their lawns to create basic parking areas. In 1995, the government reclassified curb-drops and hardstanding installations as permitted developments. This eliminated the need for homeowners to secure formal council planning permission to pave over their gardens.

According to a recent study by the Royal Horticultural Society, 55% of UK front garden space has been paved over. This has been driven by a combination of factors, including increased car ownership, the size of modern vehicles, limited residential street parking, and new challenges such as accommodating home electric-vehicle charging.

The demand for parking is further intensified by the rise in multi-occupier homes, which naturally brings a higher number of car users requiring parking spaces. At the same time, local authorities continue to roll out controlled parking zones, and paying for them is avoided by parking in the front garden.

Side effects of paving up front gardens

The loss of one front garden may not seem significant, but collectively these changes represent a major loss of planted space. As front gardens disappear, so does the variety of vegetation they provide.

The reduction in permeable soil caused by paved-over front gardens has ecological consequences. Rainwater runs off impermeable hard surfaces rather than being absorbed and released more slowly by soil and plants. This places additional pressure on drainage systems and can increase the flood risk during periods of heavy rainfall. Run-off can also carry litter, oil and other pollutants into drains and local rivers.

The loss of planting reduces one of the ways gardens can help improve local air quality. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and can help capture some airborne pollutants.

Hard surfaces absorb and store daytime heat, contributing to higher temperatures in towns and cities compared to the countryside. This is especially critical considering the record-breaking summer temperatures we have been experiencing in recent years. Extreme heat poses health risks, especially to vulnerable people, and higher nighttime temperatures from stored heat can disrupt sleep.

Greenspaces and planting help moderate excessive temperatures in towns and ease the urban heat island effect. This reduces the burden on the NHS in treating people with health problems exacerbated by high temperatures.

The loss of front gardens deprives local wildlife of important habitats. Without a diverse mix of plants, animals such as bees, birds and hedgehogs will struggle to find food and shelter, leading to a decline in biodiversity.

Changes in soil conditions around buildings can also increase the risk of subsidence, the downward movement of the ground beneath a building. If untreated, this can eventually destabilise the house, leading to serious structural damage. Maintaining planted areas can help preserve healthier soil conditions around properties.

Parking on former front gardens does not actually alleviate parking pressure. A dropped kerb removes on-street parking, and often more than one parking space per dropped kerb because of space needed to maneuver the vehicle into the paved-over front garden. Effectively, more parking space is lost than is gained.

Taking a hybrid approach

While private parking can add value to a property, so can a well-planted front garden. Green front gardens can provide privacy and help make the rest of the street and neighbourhood more attractive.

Many issues need to be addressed around increased car ownership. For the moment, people reliant on a car and faced with a lack of on-street parking can take a hybrid approach. This way, some of the benefits of front gardens can be preserved while they can still park their car.

One of the best things to consider when creating a parking space in a front garden is using permeable materials such as gravel or permeable paving. These allow rainwater to soak into the ground rather than running off immediately. 

Keeping the paved area as small as possible also helps. For example, creating gravel tracks where the car wheels sit allows planting around and underneath the vehicle. The space beneath a parked car can be an unexpectedly attractive planting area when the car is away. 

If the garden has previously been paved, the soil may be shallow and poor. Plants such as low-growing stonecrops (i.e. Sedum album or Sempervivum sp) thrive in poor soil and are attractive to pollinators. Other low-growing options for slightly richer soil include creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) and self-heal (Prunella vulgaris).

Since cars often occupy a large proportion of front garden space, planting vertically can be particularly effective. A narrow mixed hedge of native shrubs such as hawthorn, hazel and blackthorn provides blossom for pollinators, nesting cover for birds, and berries and nuts for wildlife. This is also a great way to create privacy in the garden.

A small tree can also work well in a front garden. Trees are fantastic at cooling the air on hot summer days, and their leaves capture rain, which reduces the risk of flooding. They also offer homes and food for wildlife. The RHS website has a handy guide on trees for smaller gardens. 

Even the smallest spaces can be used. Climbing plants or wall shrubs are excellent ways to add greenery where ground space is limited. When selecting plants, consider the condition of the wall and use climbing supports where needed. Self-clinging plants such as ivy and climbing hydrangea are best avoided on walls with existing damage, where they may widen cracks or increase damage to weakened mortar.

Conclusion

In the 21st century, the role of the front garden has changed dramatically. Once seen as a place to express civic pride and horticultural skill, it is now often expected to accommodate the practical needs of modern life, particularly parking. Yet front gardens continue to provide environmental and social benefits that reach well beyond the households that own them.

As our towns face challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and social isolation, front gardens should not be seen simply as private spaces for parking cars. They are also part of the wider environment, with the potential to make our streets healthier and more resilient.

About the author: Sarah Gerhardt is a gardener, linguist and punk musician based in Edinburgh. She was head gardener at the Dean Gardens, Edinburgh for 9 years and runs her own gardening business Gerhardt’s Garden Service. Find out more via her Linktree: https://linktr.ee/gerhardtsgardenservice