Metamorphosis: A Vision for the Urban Cemetery of Tomorrow

Bradley Benmoshé, CNU-A, LEED Green Associate, CPTED | Rhodeside Harwell (RHI)

Forests may be gorgeous but there is nothing more alive than a tree that learns how to grow in a cemetery. —

Andrea Gibson

Imagine it’s a beautiful spring day in Washington, DC. You’re enjoying a picnic with your loved ones under the same mature tree your family has been visiting since you too were a child. The flowers are in full bloom, exhibiting a cacophony of vibrant colors. The nearby magnolia trees fill the air with a sweet fragrance, and the birds are chirping joyously. You smile as you see several children frolicking about merrily with their relatives. Except their relatives are dead, and the kids are playing on their gravesite. You’re having a picnic in a cemetery, yet life is in abundance.

Most of us may not like to think about death, burials, and funerals, but in a rapidly densifying and urbanizing global population, we must plan for how to dispose of all these bodies when the inevitable eventually occurs.

Death rituals can be traced back to the Neanderthals, an ancient species of early humans that lived over 160,000 years ago. Since then, civilizations across the globe have developed and practiced meaningful burial customs to memorialize their dead. In much the same way that the spoken language, religious practices, and societal norms vary between cultures, so too does the practice of body disposition. For instance, the ancient Egyptians believed in life after death, and so they mummified their dead before burying them in tombs; Buddhist Mongolians and Tibetans believe in the transmigration of spirits, and so, after death, the body, now believed to be an empty vessel, is cut into pieces, and fed to vultures, who are viewed as angels, carrying the spirits up to heaven, following an elaborate ceremony.

Modern western-world countries use similar practices for body disposition, such as interment within a cemetery. Yet, people are seeking new ways of burial that they find more meaningful and in line with their beliefs, including the wish to celebrate the life of a person rather than mourn in the traditional solemn funeral manner. Isn’t it time that our customs caught up with new ideas and ways of living?

Today’s urban cemeteries are facing many challenges, including running out of space for burials and expansion, being “landlocked” by development, increased upkeep costs and declining revenues (because of fewer plots being available), disrepair and neglect, NIMBYism, and even environmental issues. Therefore, tomorrow’s cemeteries could have a more positive, impactful, equitable, sustainable, and welcoming presence within the community.

With the coronavirus pandemic still raging around the world — having caused nearly 6.75 million deaths globally as of January 2023, it is one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. Given such a large loss of life and a complete jolt in our world order, many must confront death, including how to memorialize and dispose of the bodies of those lost. Many grieving families are faced with the financial burden associated with traditional funeral and burial expenses, which have risen nearly twice as fast as consumer prices for all items.

Funeral expenses rose 227.1%, while all items rose 123.4%, in the thirty years since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking funeral expenses.

Therefore, perhaps now is the time for the next generation of the cemetery. One that not only provides a space to memorialize our deceased loved ones, but that helps to give back to its community, is affordable and accessible to all, and contributes to a happier and healthier city.

CEMETERIES: AMERICA’S FIRST PARKS

In the 1820s, America’s growing cities had a problem: People kept dying, and urban graveyards were filling up. There was growing concern about the unhealthiness of burials under churches, as well as potentially running out of space for burials within the church grounds. Fortunately, a trio of horticulturists and landscape architects in Massachusetts, having been inspired by Paris’ PereLachaise Cemetery, came up with an idea to transform cemeteries into experimental gardens on the edges of town, and away from church grounds.

In 1831, their bold vision would become reality when the Massachusetts Horticultural Society purchased 72 acres of mature woodland six miles west of the Boston city center, for the creation of a “rural cemetery,” named Mount Auburn Cemetery. Designed by Henry Dearborn, the head of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in the naturalistic English style, this cemetery provided a tranquil and beautiful public space where families could memorialize their loved ones in an inviting and natural setting.

The trio’s bold idea to design cemeteries as inviting public spaces on the outskirts of town became very popular throughout the growing nation. Within a few decades, nearly every major city in America emulated its elegant and dual-purpose solution for body disposition. These rural cemeteries not only temporarily solved the problem of urban burials, but they gave rise to the rural “garden” cemetery movement, and they ultimately became the first public parks established in the United States of America.

In the 19th century, epidemics took many children at an early age, and women died in childbirth, making death far too common in families.

Having a picnic at the burial site of a deceased loved one was very common, acceptable, and popular, as this allowed grieving families to include their deceased loved ones.

Over time, many cemeteries would ban the practice of consuming food within the grounds, because of the large crowds on the grounds and the litter visitors often left behind. While there are a handful of cemeteries throughout the United States that still permit bringing in and consuming food on the grounds, the idea of picnicking and spending leisure time in a cemetery seems outlandish, creepy, and even taboo to so many in this country.

Options For Body Disposition

Today, there are more and more options for body disposition than ever before. For example, Florida’s Neptune Memorial Reef uses the cremated remains (“cremains”) to create artificial reef material to transform over 16 acres of the barren ocean floor. A UK-based company will press your loved one’s ashes into a vinyl record that can play songs for you to remember them by. There is even an option to use the decomposing body to feed a germinating seed that will eventually grow into a big tree. These colorful and unique options are becoming increasingly popular over traditional burials and offer a more personalized and memorable way to celebrate a life. Moreover, they are helping to shift our collective mentality about our relationship with death, what the cemetery of tomorrow could be, how it can play a greater role, and how it can better contribute to our communities. Additional options for body disposition include:

Casket Burial

One of the oldest options in human history for body disposition, dating back to the ancient Egyptians, is casket burial. Today, to ready the body for burial, it is bathed and disinfected, and, unless specifically requested not to, is typically pumped with embalming fluids that help to temporarily preserve the body; this practice is more for vanity and convenience than for sanitary or decomposition purposes. The body is then placed into an airtight and oversized box designed and manufactured to remain intact for a long time, buried 5-7 feet below ground, and adorned with a large granite or bronze marker. This option for body disposition is in decline as more people want something other than this traditional method.

Cremation

First practiced by the ancient Greeks, cremation is the process of burning a dead body at very high temperatures until there is

Cremation is now the preferred method of body disposition in the USA Image Credit: National Funeral Directors Association only brittle, calcified bone left, which is then pulverized into “ashes.” These ashes can be kept in an urn, buried, scattered, or even incorporated into keepsake objects, such as jewelry and artwork, as part of the last rites of death. Several factors which affect the duration of the cremation process include the bone structure of the body; the percentage of body fat to lean muscle mass; the cremation machine and support equipment’s performance; the operating temperature of the cremation chamber; and the type of casket or urn in which the body is placed. This practice recently surpassed traditional casket burial as the preferred option for body disposition in the United States of America.

Green Burials

Today, more and more people are concerned about and aware of their impact on the environment. Many are opting for a green burial versus a traditional burial practice — nearly 52% of Americans expressed interest in green-burial options, according to a 2019 survey from the funeral directors’ association. Most of those surveyed cited environmental reasons and cost as the main reasons for wanting a green burial over traditional burial practices.

Simply stated, green burial is a way of caring for the deceased with as little impact on the natural environment as possible, especially compared to traditional and more common burial practices.

Green burial is a great way for many religious persons, specifically those practicing the Jewish and Muslim faith, to meet the requirements of the religious law regarding burial rituals and customs. This burial option conserves natural resources because the caskets are made from sustainably produced materials created from renewable sources; conventional caskets are often constructed using wood or metal not typically produced sustainably. Green burial caskets are created from sustainable sources; they do not use chemical-based paints or finishes, and they are biodegradable. Therefore, they do not add harsh toxins to the earth as they decompose, thus aiding in the preservation of the environment.

Resomation

An alternative to traditional burial and flame cremation, resomation practices mimic a faster, natural decomposition process. This process involves placing the cadaver in a special wool coffin into a resomation chamber, and instead of fire, uses an alkali hydrolysis chemical and water to quickly reduce the body to ash. Typically, this process takes 3 to 4 hours to complete; it also uses less energy, relies on fewer fossil fuels, and emits fewer particles and pollutants into the air than fire cremation. Currently, resomation is approved for pets in all 50 states and humans in 26 states. However, this number is expected to increase as demand for this option for body disposition continues to grow.

Metamorphosis (Ashes to Soil)

Another option for body disposition is metamorphosis — mixing cremation ashes with planting soil, to create new life. On their own, cremation ashes can be quite harmful to the environment, largely because of their high levels of PH and toxic levels of sodium. By taking the proper steps needed to “purify” them, cremation ashes can help provide many nutrients and qualities needed for sustaining plant life. Metamorphosis is a unique way to not only create a living memorial, but it directly aids in returning nutrients to the earth. Traditional burial and cremation rituals prevent this crucial phase from occurring, largely because of the airtight containers the interred are placed in.

Environmental Impacts

Today, many cultures around the world use similar practices for body disposition, including burials, cremation, interment in a cemetery, and embalming fluids, despite their adverse effects on the natural environment. According to National Geographic:

American funerals are responsible each year for the felling of 30 million board feet of casket wood (some of which come from tropical hardwoods), 90,000 tons of steel, 1.6 million tons of concrete for burial vaults, and 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid. Even cremation is an environmental horror story, with the incineration process emitting many noxious substances, including dioxin, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and climate-changing carbon dioxide.

Traditional “full-service” burials (casket, flowers, burial plot or tomb, grave marker, etc.) have an enormous impact on the natural environment. For instance, 10 acres of burial ground contain nearly 1,000 tons of casket steel, 20,000 tons of concrete for vaults, and enough wood from buried coffins to build over 40 singlefamily homes. To accommodate many bodies, whether being buried in a grave or a mausoleum, cemeteries typically require many acres of land, causing much destruction to the natural environment and habitats that initially occupied the land.

Contrary to popular belief, the practice of cremating bodies is not the “green” alternative to underground burial. While it may not be as damaging to the environment as full-service burials, large amounts of nonrenewable energy (typically natural gas) are needed to power the furnaces. By using nonrenewable sources of energy, greenhouse gasses and chemicals that have been vaporized during the cremation process are released into the atmosphere.

Among the most destructive burial rituals to the environment is the use of embalming fluids - a replacement of bodily fluids with a preservative solution. Although government law or regulation in many parts of the world does not require using embalming fluids, it remains a common practice throughout the funeral industry. Alternatives to using embalming fluid include refrigerating the body and opting for a closed casket service.

Types Of Cemeteries

While all cemeteries are developed to serve the same purpose, there are many types of cemeteries with varying levels of service, burial options offered, type of memorialization allowed, and even religious, cultural, or organization affiliation. Thus, based on these features and characteristics, cemeteries are generally categorized into one of the fifteen types listed below. Changes in burial traditions, legal regulations, and demand have led to the creation of many types of cemeteries.

1. The Church Cemetery: Between the Middle Ages and the Victorian era, the dead were often buried on the properties of churches. However, with limited space, graves were often used multiple times. But as plagues and disease rose through the soils infecting those who attended mass, new regulations were formed regarding burials and burial plots, which included making it illegal to bury bodies less than six feet under the soil. These days, churchyards are still used to house the dead, and while a church cemetery is often found in the churchyard, it can often be separate from the church. These churchyards are owned by the church and are considered private property; however, churchyards are generally open for all to visit.

2. Public Cemeteries are plots of land owned by a governmental unit within a town, city, or county and are, by law, public cemeteries that must remain open to the public.

3. The Customary Cemetery: With no formal or legal status, customary cemeteries are simply plots used by neighbors as burying places, which are further cared for by survivors of those buried within. While they are not generally legal, this type of cemetery is tolerated and can often be found in rural areas.

4. Private Cemeteries are often owned and operated by a corporation, lodge, community organization, military, or specific family. This type of cemetery is restrictive to the public and will list the owners and/or caretakers at the cemetery entrance.

5. The Lodge Cemetery: Like the private cemetery, a lodge cemetery is owned and operated by lodges or other fraternal organizations, such as the Bohemian Grove Club, Freemasons, or Oddfellows. Most times, this type of cemetery is strictly for members of the organization.

6. Ethnic Cemeteries can be private or public, but are owned, operated, and maintained to support a religious group.

7. Family Cemeteries are privately held parcels of land specifically for the burial of members of the same family. This type of cemetery was commonly used in rural parts of the United States, often located on family farms, and helped to keep burial costs down.

8. Veterans’ Cemeteries are owned, operated, and controlled by the Veterans Affairs Administration on both the state and national levels. This type of cemetery limits interment to those who qualify for veteran burial benefits. Currently, there are 119 national veterans’ cemeteries in the United States.

9. Monumental Cemeteries may be what most of us picture when we think of a cemetery or graveyard. They are cemeteries in which headstones, and other monuments made of marble, granite, or similar materials rise vertically above the ground. However, because the maintenance of monuments is the responsibility of the family as well as the high density of graves inside the cemetery, monumental cemeteries have been considered unsightly.

10. The Memorial Park: With no gravestones or grave mounds, memorial parks are more commemorative memorials in honor of the deaths of many lives.

11. The Lawn Park Cemetery: With commemorative plaques placed horizontally at the head of the grave at ground level, a lawn cemetery is void of grave mounds but covered entirely with flat grassy lawns which barely show any evidence that people have been buried there. However, because the plaques are in the ground, many families are restricted from leaving objects on grave markers, because of lawn maintenance and the use of mowers.

12. Lawn Beam Cemeteries are a recent addition to the cemetery that addresses the problems a lawn park cemetery may impose on maintenance workers. Using a low raised concrete slab placed across the cemetery which allows for commemorative plaques to be mounted, this feature allows space between the slabs where grass can grow, giving cemetery care workers ease to work mowers without the risk of blades damaging plaques and objects left behind by families.

13. Garden Cemeteries combine a mixture of trees, flowers, and benches to give them a parklike atmosphere, but still use the traditional grave markers and monuments to identify the locations of final resting places.

14. Natural Cemeteries are a more environmentally conscious type of cemetery that allows “natural burials.” To be considered a natural burial, several focus areas must be met, including using a biodegradable container, natural decomposition, conserving natural resources, environment preservation, and protecting the health of the industry workers.

15. Pet Cemeteries provide a space for pets to be interred. While a person cannot be buried with their pets in pet cemeteries, their cremains can be.

CELEBRATORY PARKS: A METAMORPHOSIS OF LIFE

Today, the urban cemetery is faced with similar challenges as cemeteries from the 19th century, including overcrowding and potential health risks to the surrounding community and environment. Therefore, we must once again look for new solutions to address this largely neglected topic.

A growing number of urban planners, designers, developers, and startup companies are hoping to solve this problem with innovative and bold concepts that will not only change the funerary industry but also how we think about and develop our cemeteries. Some ideas include building high rises to house the dead, floating cemetery islands, and even sending cremains into orbit around the earth. While these concepts are helping to get the conversation started about what the cemetery of the future may look like, each would require significant resources and could impact the environment adversely. These concepts may provide some creative solutions for saving space, but they can potentially run into many of the same challenges today’s cemeteries are facing. Moreover, they don’t appear to contribute to effective placemaking and community building. People want to make meaningful memories and establish a sense of place. Thus, cemeteries should fit into community life and impart a sense of community.

Therefore, a new hybrid model, which combines many of the great qualities and benefits of the parklike cemeteries of yesterday, could serve the needs of the living and the dead; it would also provide a more sustainable alternative for those seeking non-traditional places of body disposition. Similarly, to the Mount Auburn Cemetery, the next generation of the cemetery could also serve as an inviting and vital public green space within the community. However, rather than being set within a passive natural landscape on the outskirts of town, these “celebratory parks” would look and function like urban parks.

Designing this new type of mixeduse cemetery to include amenities such as playgrounds, water features, wide pedestrian pathways, flexible spaces, street furniture, and even year-round events helps to maximize the use of the land and contribute to effective placemaking. Versatile, engaging, and adaptive; this new generation of the cemetery can be established all over the municipality, providing a multitude of benefits to the community for generations to come. Such benefits would provide the community with greater accessibility and connectivity to green space, a greater sense of place, more equitable and affordable options for final disposition, reducing adverse impacts on the environment, and a happier and healthier quality of life.

A stark contrast from previous cemetery designs would be the absence of formal and costly stone grave monuments and markers. Instead, memorial trees and gardens would serve as natural monuments, but with a twist – the remains of the deceased will serve as fertilizer to help the tree grow and flourish, allowing the deceased to sustainably contribute to the circle of life. This could be achieved by using biodegradable burial pods and urns, such as Capsula Mundi, Bios Urn, and The Living Urn. Unlike traditional burial caskets and columbarium structures, which prevent the body’s nutrients from being released into the ground during the decomposition process, these vessels are made from organic matter and are designed to break down. Thus, allowing the nutrients and microbes to feed the tree above. Additionally, the ashes of multiple generations of family members can be used to provide the same “parent” tree with nutrients. This would not only allow for subsequent generations to be more connected to their family roots and tree, but it would also reduce the amount of land that would otherwise be required if each additional member were to have their interment.

Memorial trees and gardens within the celebratory parks could be identified using digital markers such as QR codes. Using their smart device’s barcode reader, visitors would be able to identify the exact location of their loved one’s burial site as well as view an online tribute filled with pre-populated life stories, photos, videos, and accomplishments of the deceased. And, in today’s highly connected and digital world, they would also be able to contribute their memories of the deceased, thus allowing them to contribute to that person’s legacy as well as honor and memorize them. Additionally, this could help the deceased’s loved ones feel connected to and interact with the space.

Many public cemeteries are owned by the local municipality, with upkeep and maintenance typically falling within the public works department. However, cemetery services, such as the opening of graves and burial services, are often outsourced to funeral homes or professional cemetery service organizations. These celebratory parks could be owned and managed by the local municipality, much like any city-owned public park, and the municipality could offset some costs by collecting a nominal fee for “planting” permit applications. Additionally, the local municipality would be able to restrict the species of trees to only allow for native species to be planted.

Conclusion

While cemeteries may have a somber purpose, they can and do serve as beautiful, inviting, and tranquil green spaces. They also help to tell a community’s story, serve as valuable historic resources, and provide a space for reflection and recreation. For centuries, whether out of necessity, superstition, or desire, people continue to reimagine the cemetery. Therefore, now is the perfect time for us to talk about what the cemetery of tomorrow might look and feel like. The cemetery of tomorrow could serve as a source of community pride, gathering, healing, and growth. The next generation of cemetery has a great opportunity to provide equitable, affordable, and convenient access to green and burial spaces, reduce carbon emissions and promote more sustainable practices. It could even serve as a bridge between the living and the dead, providing a space for members of the community to come together and form new connections, and could even lead to happier cities.

Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. — Joanne Kathleen Rowling

References

Gibson, A. (2011). Gospel Salt [Recorded by A. Gibson]. On Flower Boy [Audio CD].

Than, K. (2013, December 16). Neanderthal Burials Confirmed as Ancient Ritual. Retrieved from National Geographic: http://news. nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131216-la-chapelle-neanderthal-burials-graves/

Torgovnick, K. (2013, October 1). Death is not the end: Fascinating funeral traditions from around the globe. Retrieved from Ted.com: http://ideas. ted.com/11-fascinating-funeral-traditions-from-around-the-globe/

Interment: The final disposition of human remains by burial, entombment, or inurnment. (International Cemetery and Funeral Association, 1998)

NIMBY: Opposition to the locating of something considered undesirable (such as a prison or incinerator) in one’s neighborhood. https://covid19.who.int/table

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, the rising cost of dying, 1986–2017 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ ted/2017/the-rising-cost-of-dying-1986-2017.htm (visited April 13, 2022).

How Is A Body Cremated? (2017). Retrieved from Cremation Resource: http://www.cremationresource.org/cremation/how-is-a-body-cremated. html

National Funeral Directors Association. (2011). Annual CANA Statistics Report.

Brown, A. (2019, November 30). Eco-friendly cemeteries? More people preferring “green” over standard burials. The Washington Post. https:// www.washingtonpost.com/science/eco-friendly-cemeteries-more-people-preferring-green-over-standard-burials/2019/11/29/af9de6ce-0fc511ea-bf62-eadd5d11f559_story.html

Sullivan, S. (2016). A Need for Change. Retrieved from Resomation: http://resomation.com/about/need-for-change/

Bay Area Funeral Consumers Association (BA-FCA). (n.d.). Resomation - more than you wanted to know. San Francisco. Retrieved from http://www. ba-fca.org/Resomation.for.newsletter.pdf

Planting Cremation Ashes. (2015). Retrieved from Let Your Love Grow: http://www.letyourlovegrow.com/eco-friendly-burial/cremation-ashesplanting/

Brackett, A. (2017). Environmental Impact of Death. Retrieved from Seven Ponds: http://www.sevenponds.com/after-death/environmentalimpact-of-death

Elemental Cremation & Burial. (2017). Embalming FAQ. Retrieved from Elemental Cremation & Burial: http://www.elementalnw.com/embalmingfaq/

Gillies, M. (2017). The 15 Types of Cemeteries. Retrieved from Mysendoff.com: https://mysendoff.com/2012/05/the-15-types-of-cemeteries/ EverPlans. (2017). Important Facts to Know About Green burials. Retrieved from Everplans: https://www.everplans.com/articles/important-factsto-know-about-green-burials