1. Anticipating management needs at the design stage

Taking future management into account right from the design phase removes many of the obstacles to switching to more ecological practices (work time, intolerance of spontaneous vegetation, etc.). Building and landscaping cemeteries with plants from the outset facilitates ecological management practices and subsequent user acceptance.

In densely populated urban areas, where there is little or no scope for creating new green spaces, cemeteries are an opportunity to create new places for strolling, resting, relaxing and even quiet recreation. This concept of the cemetery as more natural and closer to a green space is very much in evidence in Anglo-Saxon countries (figure 1 ), but also in Eastern European countries (figure