Streets of sand

One of the interesting things about many places in The Netherlands is that their streets are just bricks pounded into sand. Now this certianly has its drawbacks, you should see the potholes and uneven sidewalks. However, working on a water line is easier: simply dig up the bricks and the street can be 'repaved' in hours when the work is finished. Also, we have notice this has a big impact on the urban landscape. Water quickly drains into the subsurface. Trees can easily grow on the smallest patch of free ground, because their roots are surrounded by permiable sand. This means that there are many more trees and they are much larger than you would expect in similar situations in the US.