Cobblestones Do More Than Look Pretty | In the Mundane
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- čas přidán 13. 05. 2023
- Another video about something random and totally mundane that I was thinking about...cobblestone.
When I was living in Belgium, I noticed maintenance workers digging up cobblestone to work on utility lines. After their work was completed, they replaced the stones exactly as they were without any major disruptions, jack hammers, or the horrible smelling asphalt. That's when I realized I had underestimated the benefits of cobblestone.
I live in a neighborhood with brick streets. We've had to fight the city to keep our brick streets because the city wants to pave over them with asphalt.
Cobblestones and flat sets are divisive among urbanists because they're "loud". But many people who actually live in areas with stone or brick paved streets love them.
So wait, they spent a bunch of money installing brick streets who's main advantage is that they basically last forever, and now want to undo all that? Embarrassing.
I feel like brick streets are beautiful and also make people notice that they're going super fast because they're loud and make them slow down, and the more narrower the car lane, the better, because car drivers feel like they have to slow down to not cause an accident on a narrow car lane. (well until it becomes so narrow that it is dangerous to let a car drive on it and will make a car accident happen.)
I always thought brick streets were a no brainer for urbanism, with the caveat that they are harder to bike and roll on, because they make drivers slow down and be more attentive.
Which, ironically, is why traffic engineers keep trying to pave over them because it "impedes traffic flow" or some other nonsense.
So enjoyable walking on cobblestone
Maybe they're good for able bodied people to walk on, but they're a pain in the ass to bike on and are impossible to traverse in a wheelchair.
The comprehension that having a street covered in stones can make burying the wires financially possible at scale is crucial. I literally have a system to create streetless neighborhoods, my channel is about that. One of the main ideas is that vicinities and neighborhoods do not need to be paved with asphalt at all. The capilaries can even do with grass only. We need an entirely different thinking about "streets", what we have now is nothing short of a calamity and inhuman environments!
Hear hear!
Looking forward to see your videos!
The city I live in has started installing granite pavers and brick in a lot more areas, specifically pedestrian priority areas. It makes a huge difference in the appearance of a neighborhood.
In areas where they don’t have the budget for real pavers, they use textured and colored coating on asphalt so it still looks and feels like you are driving over cobblestone/ brick to slow traffic down.
Oh, textured coating is interesting. I'll look that up.
@@optimicities The main downsides with that are that they aren't permeable, and need regular replacement.
I'm loving your videos! Another example of extremes from Canada: where I live, they re-did one of the main squares in Old Montreal, Place Jacques-Cartier, but the granite stones they used were only 6cm thick and started cracking after the first winter. They had to re-do it with 10cm thick blocks after. And I noticed in Portugal that their blocks are actually tapered spikes and quite a lot deeper than their smallish square size on the surface.
In Puerto Rico the Spanish made streets like that and now they are fixing holes in them using asphalt, which ruins it all and looks very sad.
Fun fact: tons of Philly streets still have their bricks beneath a couple inches of asphalt. You can sometimes see them during repaving operations.
Thank you for mentioning the downsides and using pavers or bricks as a solution because sometimes I hear people suggesting we should use traditional cobblestone everywhere, which is annoying because you can't bike on it or use wheelchairs on it.
Interesting video. Where I live (the Canadian Left Coast), we face not only our usual metres of rainfall each year, but now the threat of "atmospheric rivers". The last one was massively destructive--actually cutting off land access to Vancouver from the rest of the country. I live in a rural, well, not town, but bedroom --hmm not community anymore--say agglomeration of houses? We experienced our own set of flooding issues during the river. I've experienced what happens during a normal thunderstorm is a city that is 80%+ impermeable surface (Mississauga Ontario)--it left two dead among the infrastructure effects. So the topic of permeability is extremely important out here. Climate collapse is leaving us with a four-month-long drought each year and less frequent but more intense rain events in the fall/winter/spring. It was that the forests would adsorb tremendous amounts of water, releasing it slowly into streams and rivers. The system has been, how shall I say?, severely impacted across the province. Vancouver and surrounding communities face impermeability problems. History offers hope, eh?
Wow, thanks for sharing. That's both interesting and alarming. Most efforts regarding climate change seem to be centered around electrification and renewable energy, but we need to make sure our cities/towns are resilient in other ways too, especially in more extreme weather (floods, droughts, forest fires, earthquakes, etc.) It's interesting to hear from people from different countries.
I enjoy cobbledtone streets and agree with all the positives you mention. One drawback about cobblestones is that it is much more difficult for motorcycles and scooters/mopeds, which are two very important modes of transportation in dense cities. Contrast scooter use in Vietnam, Taiwan, etc. (Asphalt streets) to dense European cities (cobblestone streets) and you'll see a lot more scoooter use in the Asian cities.
Very informative and a well made video. Interesting note about the power lines
There are cobblestones and Belgian blocks, but bricks are a third category that's quite different from Belgian blocks, they make a much smoother surface. Belgian blocks are only kind of rectangular and kind of flat, bricks are truly rectangular, truly flat and all exactly the same size. 2:02 This kind of machine is only possible with bricks, not Belgian blocks.
I love cobblestone streets and paver sidewalks. I was first exposed to them when I moved to New Orleans USA where they were used in certain parts of the city. I’ve since left the US and am an immigrant living in Mexico where I get the pleasure of walking and seeing them in every city in which I’ve lived. I don’t remember if Mexico city’ streets used them as I was only there for a couple of weeks, but they had stone streets in Ecuador and Guatemala also. It really struck me as odd, the first day in Antigua, Guatemala and there was this heavy rain storm and some of the streets turned into little rivers even though they were cobble stoned. I had expected the water to seep through the gaps between the stones into the soil below, but maybe because the streets were shaped like shallow troughs it just caused a streaming effect because the rain was so heavy. But having said that I don’t remember there being any standing puddles of water in or around the streets the next day. I do love cobble stones asphalt and concrete can’t compare aesthetically and they do seem easier to maintain.
I ride a Onewheel from time to time. Cobblestone is so much fun!
Hey i really like your videos and the subjects you bring up and i really hope you succeed in this space!
One thing which for me would make a huge difference is if you work a bit on the audio. I often watch these videos as an audiobook, walking around with a fair bit of background noise. It almost sounds like you are afraid of speaking up, so please up the volume and practice talking with more pompus, that would be amazing!
All best, and looking forward to following your ongoing journey
Noted! Thanks for the tips!
I love pavers. They really should be used more in medium to high density residential areas or on local/access streets to encourage slower speeds, plus all the environmental benefits. The upfront cost will be worth it. 🙂
Great video! Glad I came across your channel
I live in a tourist neighborhood, and some streets are cobblestone. They're badly maintained and painful to ride my bike on. I will consider the advantages you listed and try to look on the bright side. I can ask the city to fix my street and see how that goes. I'm in NYC.
the red hook neighborhood in brooklyn, nyc keeps pulling up the few remaining cobblestone streets left in nyc and paving! an amazon distribution hub just opened and repaved in front of it’s building! sad!
Great video great commentary great presentation!!!
Fantastic video once again. I think the distinction you make between varieties of pavers is usually missing from the conversation of pavement and accessibility in the US.
Nicely produced video. Where are you getting your footage?
the pavers have not survived repeated freeze thaw cycle where I live and and even the decorative ones require frequent replacement ( tried brick , granite , basalt , chirt , lime stone and silt stone all destroyed within 5 years )
Hello - I just wanted to say I enjoy your videos. Your channel deserves more subscribers! We are in the same niche.
Thanks! Checked out your channel, and your videos are awesome! Will be going through them :)
Echoing a comment below, a cobblestone (as opposed to a smooth brick or paver) surface is a ghastly riding experience for a bicyclist, unless you have off-road tires. Even bricks have to be well-maintained, if you want to ride a bike on them. It’s a shame, given the advantages of that type of pavement.
As a wheelchair user who knows a lot of other disabled people, cobblestones are a nightmare. That said, there are plenty of alternatives that are better for the environment than asphalt or concrete and that accommodate the needs of disabled people. There are ways to have the cake and eat it too, but society needs to be willing to invest in it. I live near Maastricht (historic Dutch city) and shop owners protest to keep their cobblestones. They are standing in the way of accessibility because they are scared for progress.
Non wheelchair user here but interested to learn. I like brick roads a lot and in my country, brick is a very common building material and brick and tile designs are a signature of local architecture. How are brick paths to wheelchair users
@@allergy5634 Wheelchairs don't have suspensions. So if bricks are not perfectly aligned, we get back and neck pain. In some cases, for people with weak muscles, bumpy roads can fling us out of our chair or really mess with our neck, to the point where someone has to walk next to us, holding up our head.
@@Cristal3thank you. That makes sense
How do you deal with cobblestone, with a lot of snow and ice?
As I understand it, the permeability actually helps a ton there. Dangerous ice on roads tends to form after a freeze/thaw/freeze cycle after a snow event. With the permeable pavers, the thawed water seeps down into the ground, rather than pool on the surface, and thus ice accumulation is reduced. Plus, the more uneven nature of the pavers helps to maintain traction.
@@Descriptor413 Thanks for your answer. Another question - how do snow removal trucks work on cobblestone? Do they scare the cobblestones?
@@ryleighloughty3307 Generally for that you would use a plow with a rubber or polymer cutting edge, ideally one which can be replaced without having to replace the entire plow, since the edge would be somewhat sacrificial.
@@Descriptor413 That makes sense, and thank you.
Why does your voice sounds quite? Like muted or smth. Other than that, good video!
Why is there a child out in the pouring rain? 3:29
4:24
They hurt my feet
Wear shoes with better soles.
Knowing how walkable cities are so in demand but are basically unaffordable, I'm surprised there aren't people building their own like back in the days of the old west and advertising their amenities.. like affordable housing.
Please walkable city CZcamsrs, band together and make this a reality
Why is it American asphalt has a different lifespan than European asphalt?
Lifespan can change based on the quality of the aggregate, how deep and well prepared the road is, and how much maintenance is done.
They suck when riding bikes tho
That is the trafitional cobblestone , but in Holland we often have 2-3 ft if smoother clay clinker bricks along the side for bikes. And the cobbles in the middle for cars. There is a wide array of clinker bricks in use. (Some even smoother granite ones). I would say 90% of dutch residential streets have a type of clinker brick. Only artery streets tend to have asphalt.
Clinker/cobble bricks are a bit more expensive to lay , but they last longer and can be ooened/closed for utility maintenance. The brick street with tiled sidewalk where I live has been opened 2-3x in 16 years, to renew the sewer system or water pipes or to install fiberglass telecom wiring.
The bricks and tiles were opened and closed again. So in the long run it is economical than renewing the asphalt every time ...
Cobblestone are terrible for wheelchair uses, so they should never use cobblestone on new streets