Different neighborhoods work differently. I played baseball in my front yard. First (and only base, besides home) was the mailbox across the street.

But it's true that a lot of people don't use their front yards for much, except perhaps as a noise buffer from the road. If you go a non-lawn route, you'll need to be careful to maintain it in a way that doesn't encourage intervention by neighbors, municipalities, etc. On the other hand, I'm rewilding a bit of my back, and nobody says anything.

> What I don't understand is, is the need for huge front lawns. It's all the work with none of the benefits. Just a waste of space really. People don't use them the same way at all.

Have you considered that some people just like looking at it and that's enough? It's their private property after all.

That's not a sufficient reason to have bylaws and HOAs that enforce front lawns. Which is amazingly common.

The lawns aren’t the reason for the HOAs. The HOAs are intended to try to protect the investment value of the homes by enforcing a level of maintenance in all of the properties. Not saying they are a net good but it doesn’t start with the lawns.

In my experience there are effectively no HOAs that don't legislate lawns (and usually landscaping with them).

They may not be the reason, but HOAs are absolutely the cause of outdated, environmentally unsustainable, bullshit lawn requirements.

Have you considered that some people want it that way and choose to live in such a place?

Hidden benefit of HOA's: if you don't have one, you run a reduced risk of having those people be your neighbors.

Exactly, it works both ways and that’s a good thing.