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Urban street pavements have historically represented the synthesis of functional and aesthetic values, capable of meeting the transportation needs and demands in which the pedestrian is always put at the centre of the project. The quality of a pedestrian-priority space must be read according to a series of specific indicators that combine the unbeatable aesthetic requirements with those of comfort and safety. To this end, an integrated approach of experimental measurements to characterise the quality of pedestrian paths (pedestrian-only streets, sidewalks, shared areas and plazas), with specific attention to stone and segmental pavements, was introduced. The different effects, in terms of vibrations and noise, that the pavement of a pedestrian path can generate on a user pulling a suitcase trolley (telescopic handle wheeled luggage), were evaluated. These values were than associated with other parameters capable of describing the characteristics of the pavement surface, such as surface macro- and micro-roughness, skid resistance and size of the elements and joints that make up the pavements. Comfort and safety thresholds for pedestrian street pavement surfaces have been identified. They can be usefully made available to designers for the functional characterisation of urban paving solutions, with particular attention to those in natural stone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pavement management system (PMS) is a set of tools that assist road agencies in finding optimal strategies for maintaining pavements in a serviceable condition over a period of time. Usually, municipalities base their PMS on the deterioration monitoring through a visual survey but the distresses identification is complex and the operations are based on visual and instrumental inspections. As regards natural stone pavements, which are very widespread in the road heritage of cities, in literature there are very few studies. The authors analyzed two supervised classification approaches (Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin for QGIS and a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)), based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry, to detect stone pavement's pattern. This study showed that using a U-Net CNN on images obtained from UAV is an excellent alternative to the traditional manual inspection and can be implemented for other types of stone pavements, also with the aim of distress identification. Unlabelled Image • PMS of urban road rarely has an organized structure. • There is a lack of tools for natural stone pavements distress analysis. • Two supervised classification approaches based on UAV photogrammetry were analyzed. • Supervised classifications are used for the detection of stone pavement's pattern. • U-Net CNN is an excellent alternative to the manual inspection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multi-criteria analysis for the design of joints in natural stone pavements was proposed. • Functional and aesthetic hierarchical requirements of joints were identified. • Several aspects which contribute to an optimized joint performance were analyzed. • A jointing materials' state of practice accompanied by their application techniques was reported. Natural stone pavement can produce a high quality attractive streetscape with a long service life. Although the formal analogy with the interlocking concrete pavements, the peculiarities and singularities of the stone elements pose enormous challenges to the designers which have at their disposal only limited standards and guidelines. The joints represent one of the most important part of the stone paving system, performing multiple tasks: stabilize the elements, transmit and dissipate loads, control the water disposal and contribute to the aesthetic. But, the analytical study of the joints is inexplicably an understudied topic in the technical and scientific literature: many problems resulted in stone pavements from lack of understanding of joints' purposes and functions. Thus, the paper highlighted the conceptual steps necessary to the selection of the optimal jointing solution. Several aspects related to the stone elements' characteristics and laying that contribute to the joints' optimized performance have been evaluated. After a brief description of the main defects that can affect stone pavements, a state of practice regarding the jointing materials with the related application techniques have been reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The lack of studies on the behaviour of natural stone pavements subjected to horizontal loads was assessed. • The lack of analytical tools for the maintenance of historical interest's pavements was evaluated. • A horizontal load test performed on stone pavements built in a wide laboratory test chamber was proposed. • The photogrammetric analysis of stone road pavement subjected to horizontal loads was suggested. • The horizontal behaviour of the stone pavements is significantly influenced by the laying pattern. Stone pavements are of great importance both for their historical and cultural value and for the most modern ecological and aesthetic requirements appreciated thanks to the use of natural materials of different colours, shapes and sizes which are laid in different patterns. Since stone block pavements are made up of individual elements with irregular side surfaces that interact with each other, an important parameter that must be considered in the design is their structural strength to horizontal stresses mainly due to braking, turning and accelerating vehicles. In this study horizontal load tests were performed on stone pavements built in a wide laboratory test chamber to analyse the load-shifting behaviour for different geometric arrangements. The displacements distribution of the elements was determined by a photogrammetric analysis. The tests have shown that the behaviour of the stone pavements in the horizontal plane is significantly influenced by the laying pattern, both in terms of translations and interaction between the elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]