From cemeteries to ecological memorial landscapes: the rise of green and conservation burial grounds and its opportunities for urban planning

Main Article Content

Katarzyna Apolinarski


Keywords : urban green infrastructure, funeral sustainability, green burial, cemetery landscapes, cemetery ecosystem services
Abstract

The article conducts an interpretative review of contemporary scientific literature (2000–2026) to analyse the environmental aspects of conventional funeral practices and introduces sustainable burial cemetery models such as green cemetery and conservation burial grounds. The interdisciplinary literature review covers landscape architecture, urban planning, urban ecology, environmental sciences, and sustainable development research. The ecological memorial landscapes, which promote human biomass “return” back into biological cycles, could create ecosystems that merge into urban green infrastructure networks, and transform the end-of-life into an active mechanism for environmental preservation. City planners and landscape architects are uniquely positioned to promote this sustainable model by reimagining and zoning cemeteries as urban green infrastructure. This study suggests that despite legal, religious, and cultural barriers, the rise of eco burial practices signals a generational evolution and shift toward ecological accountability and “death positivity” movement.

Article Details

How to Cite
Apolinarski, K. (2026). From cemeteries to ecological memorial landscapes: the rise of green and conservation burial grounds and its opportunities for urban planning. Acta Scientiarum Polonorum. Architectura, 25, 109–123. https://doi.org/10.22630/ASPA.2026.25.7
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