How Historic Street Pavement Modernized the City | Robin Williams | TEDxSavannah
Architectural historian Jonathan Hunnicutt argues that street pavement constitutes a democratic and overlooked form of built heritage, emphasizing that the material history underfoot provides a critical "bridge to the Past" that reveals a city's unique local identity. This argument is evidenced by the necessity of local activism, such as residents in Columbus, Ohio, fighting the removal of their vitrified brick streets when asphalt was proposed.
## Speakers & Context
- Architectural historian Jonathan Hunnicutt.
- Subject matter: The history, types, and significance of street pavement.
- Context: Transitioning the focus of heritage appreciation from vertical architecture to the ground beneath our feet.
## Theses & Positions
- Street pavement is the most democratic form of built heritage because it is accessible to everyone and bridges areas of varying wealth.
- Surviving historic pavements across cities offer a tangible "bridge to the Past," helping us understand the continuous struggle to make cities livable.
- Pavement's historical development reflects a series of technological and functional challenges, moving from dirt to specialized blocks.
- Historic pavements have modern utility, offering advantages like texture for traffic calming, water percolation, and navigation aids for the visually impaired.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Built heritage:** Material remnants of human activity in the built environment.
- **Democratic form of built heritage:** Pavement's universal accessibility across socio-economic divides.
- **Pavement Identity:** A unique urban fingerprint found in a city or neighborhood, determined by materials and laying patterns.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **City Modernization:** The development of formal pavement solved fundamental problems previously posed by dirt streets, such as impeding firefighting vehicles.
- **Pavement Evolution:** A sequence of technological solutions addressed needs for durability, smoothness, quietness, and affordability:
- Cobblestones (initial stage).
- Wood blocks (smooth and cheap but susceptible to weather and termites).
- Oyster shells (readily available but dusty).
- Rectangular Belgium blocks (durable for waterfronts but bumpy and loud).
- Vitrified bricks (durable and smooth, became widespread post-1880).
- Asphalt (smooth, affordable, durable, but risked eroding local identity).
- **Heritage Preservation/Revitalization:** Driven by heritage tourism (post-1970s), leading to the active restoration of older pavement types in waterfront areas.
## Timeline & Sequence
- **18th Century:** Beginning of street pavement history with cobblestones arriving as discarded ballast from ships.
- **1798:** Chinese stone, initially a tombstone, first appeared in Savannah.
- **1850s:** Cobblestones reached Savannah by this time, though initially viewed as crude.
- **19th Century:** Period of massive urban infrastructure revolution, transforming streets beyond visible skyscrapers.
- **Pre-1880:** Cities experimented with various materials based on location, budget, and street function.
- **After 1880:** Vitrified bricks became the most popular and widely used material in America.
- **1920s:** Development and widespread adoption of modern asphalt.
- **From 1970s Onwards:** Period when heritage tourism motivated the restoration of older pavement types.
- **Recent Past:** Examples include the removal of cobblestones in Savannah for concrete imitation, and modern preservation ordinances in Wilmington, North Carolina.
## Named Entities
- **Savannah** — City noted for its historical pavement patterns and the discovery of an original Chinese cobblestone.
- **San Francisco** — Mentioned in the context of satirizing the problem of dirt streets.
- **Washington DC** — Example city where color-coded maps documented various pavement types.
- **New York and Baltimore** — Port cities cited for using durable Belgium blocks.
- **Chicago** — Mentioned in relation to the Great Fire and resisting the use of bricks in Morgan Park.
- **Fort Wayne Indiana** — Location cited for surviving red brick streets due to economic neglect.
- **Columbus Ohio** — Mentioned for the German Village area, whose residents actively fought to save brick streets from asphalt.
- **Philadelphia** — Compiled a survey of historic pavements in the 1990s, leading to a thematic historic district.
- **Orlando Florida** — City cited as an example of proactive preservation by scraping asphalt to reveal brick.
- **Wilmington North Carolina** — City passing an ordinance to protect and restore brick and stone streets.
- **Ohio** — State mentioned in relation to the German Village.
## Numbers & Data
- **1798:** Year a specific Chinese stone started its life as a tombstone.
- **1850s:** Approximate time cobblestones arrived in Savannah.
- **1880:** Approximate date after which vitrified bricks became widely popular.
- **1920s:** Decade of the development of modern asphalt.
- **1970s onwards:** Period when heritage tourism began motivating pavement restoration.
## Examples & Cases
- **The Savannah pattern:** Observing a large triangular pattern of blocks suggesting a practical function (keeping blocks perpendicular to turning wheels).
- **Dirt streets:** Illustrates the pre-pavement condition, dangerous for fire fighting and general movement.
- **Great Fire of Chicago:** Cited historical event demonstrating the need for improved streets.
- **Cobblestone source:** A stone from China, uniquely etched with Chinese characters, originating as a tombstone in 1798.
- **Wood blocks:** Smooth, cheap, quiet, but slippery in wet weather and eroded by termites/humidity in the South.
- **Belgium blocks:** Strong enough for heavy cart loads in waterfront districts but bumpy and incredibly noisy under hooves.
- **Vitrified bricks:** Became popular due to durability and smoothness, leading to brick manufacturing plants stamping origins on bricks (e.g., Ohio bricks).
- **Morgan Park, Chicago:** Residents opposing brick installation fought the Town Council all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court over noise.
- **Asphalt impact:** Spread over older pavements, achieving efficiency but at the "loss of local identity."
- **Fort Wayne Indiana:** Example of red brick streets saved due to economic neglect.
- **Columbus German Village:** Residents physically removing "offending blacktop" with hoses and shovels when asphalt was laid.
- **Philadelphia survey:** Compiling a thematic district survey based on historic pavements, leading poorer residents to feel integrated into the city.
- **Savannah's current threat:** Removal of all cobblestones from a downtown ramp to be replaced with stamped concrete imitation.
- **Modern preservation:** Orlando, FL, scraping asphalt to reveal underlying brick streets.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Cobblestones** — Initial pavement material, sourced from global ballast.
- **Wood blocks** — An early paving material.
- **Oyster shells** — Early pavement material.
- **Belgium blocks** — Durable rectangular paving material suited for heavy loads.
- **Vitrified bricks** — Highly durable, smooth paving material that became dominant.
- **Asphalt** — Modern, smooth, affordable pavement material.
- **Stamped concrete** — Modern imitation material used to replace original paving in some areas.
## References Cited
- **Magazines (like the one on the right):** Referenced as advocating for improved infrastructure underfoot, suggesting their influence on city planning advocacy.
- **Color-coded maps:** Used by engineers to document various pavement types in Washington D.C.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Cobblestones:** Pros (historic presence); Cons (often considered crude/barbaric).
- **Wood blocks:** Pros (smooth, cheap, quiet); Cons (slippery in wet weather, eroded by termites/humidity in the South).
- **Belgium blocks:** Pros (strong enough for heavy loads); Cons (bumpy, incredibly noisy under metal hooves).
- **Vitrified bricks:** Pros (durable, smooth); Cons (heavy, making shipping expensive; can still be noisy).
- **Asphalt:** Pros (smooth, affordable, sufficiently durable); Cons (loss of local identity, potential for monoculture).
- **Brick/Stone (Modern Context):** Pros (texture, water percolation, navigation aids); Cons (requires active, expensive preservation and legal intervention).
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- **The Athenian/Chicago example:** Over-reliance on one material (like asphalt) can erase the nuanced history and local character of a city.
- **Economic neglect:** The survival of brick streets in places like Fort Wayne Indiana is attributed to economic absence, not active preservation efforts.
- **Imitation materials:** Stamped concrete can fail to replace the true heritage value of original materials.
## Methodology
- **Observational Study:** Noticing an anomalous pattern (triangular blocks) in a specific location (Savannah).
- **Historical Survey/Documentation:** Reviewing the varied, evolving materials used across different city functions and eras.
- **Case Study Comparison:** Comparing the failure of one material (e.g., wood blocks) to the success/resilience of another (e.g., brick in certain contexts).
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Citizens should look down to appreciate the unique, overlooked heritage embedded in the pavement beneath their feet.
- Cities must actively manage and protect their streetscapes to prevent the "monopoly" of asphalt and concrete.
- Historic pavements offer future benefits beyond heritage value, including traffic calming, managing street flooding via water percolation, and aiding navigation.
## Implications & Consequences
- The erasure of local pavement identity leads to a flattening of urban history and character.
- The failure to preserve pavement diminishes civic pride and community connection, which the speaker notes is powerfully activated by heritage recognition (as seen in Columbus/Philadelphia).
## Verbatim Moments
- *"We're so used to streets dominated by asphalt and concrete that we've become blind to the earlier historic pavements that survive in cities across the country and we've uh turley forgotten the critical role they played in helping modernize and make our cities livable for decades."*
- *"pavement is our most democratic form of built heritage it's accessible to everyone and it bridges areas rich and poor indeed."*
- *"the story of pavement in America begins in the 18th century with cobblestones which arrived in port cities as discarded ballast from ships."*
- *"what was here was the challenge facing cities you had and it depended on a city's geographic location their budget and even the function of any given street..."*
- *"sandy red brick streets... the neighbors literally took to the streets brandishing garden hoses and shovels to remove the offending blacktop."*
- *"If you really want to appreciate the distinctiveness of where you live just look down."*