Tree burials as undefined spatial alternatives for graves in France: stakes and constraints of nature-based concessions within French funerary regulations

In line with green and natural death movements, new burial practices have been emerging in France since the turn of the twenty-first century, leading to alternative cemetery typologies, such as wooded cinerary sites dedicated to interring or scattering cremated remains at the foot of trees. Using an architectural perspective, this paper will explore several types of tree burial sites according to their formal spatial characteristics (typomorphologies), linked to the level of design and maintenance of nature, and their specific conditions for the allocation of funerary concessions (plot leasing for grave establishment). As this paper will show, these tree burial grounds reveal tensions within French funerary regulations, providing inconsistent conditions for nature-based practices, whether in terms of their implementation (location, layout, equipment, etc.) or their operation (granting concessions , management, and tree patrimony status for graves, regulations on commemorative practices, etc.). In an inadequate legal framework, innovative tree burial spaces and practices in France highlight contradictions between the environment and mourning culture.