Cemeteries as public urban green space: Management, funding and form

•Cemeteries are sacred places that can also provide public urban green spaces.•Cemeteries can be places of multifunctional use with different uses and meaning.•The physical form of cemeteries can affect public use and landscape management.•Private versus public cemetery funding can affect cemetery preservation.•Sweden and the United States differ in how they fund cemeteries and burials. As cities around the world increase in density, and the number of urban green spaces decrease, the role cemeteries play is becoming increasingly important. Highly vegetated cemeteries can provide important public green spaces in urban environments and give recreational opportunities to city residents. They are also important historical and cultural landscapes, and as places of burial they contain special sacred and social meanings. Cemeteries are complex places that can have a myriad of meaning and uses. This research examines cross-national differences between cemeteries in Sweden and the United States. It uses a case study method to compare two large historical cemeteries in urban environments: Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York in the United States and the Östra kyrkogården (Eastern Cemetery) in Malmö, Sweden. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers in both cemeteries complemented by site observations. This study explores differences in cemetery management, funding and form, and how these factors can affect the recreational usage of these spaces as public urban green space. The research compares how the funding differences between the United States and Sweden regarding the private versus public funding of cemeteries and burials affects cemetery management differences. It also examines how the physical form of a cemetery can affect public accessibility, use as urban green space and landscape management practices. Public use of Östra kyrkogården and Green-Wood Cemetery as recreational urban green spaces has changed over time. Both cemeteries show how differences in management and physical form can affect public accessibility and their multifunctional usage as urban green spaces. National differences in private versus public cemetery funding, along with burial in perpetuity in the United States compared to grave reuse in Sweden, also have ramifications for the evolution and preservation of cemeteries.