Hardscape, in the practice of landscaping, refers to the paved areas like streets & sidewalks, large business complexes & housing developments, and other industrial areas where the upper-soil-profile is no longer exposed to the actual surface of the Earth. The term is especially used in heavily urbanized/suburbanized areas with little bare soil. Landscaping can refer to more than one subject: Real estate on large scale, see Landscape architecture Gardening on a large or small scale, see Landscape gardening Artwork, see Landscape painting Maintenance, see Landscape maintenance This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share... This article is about the American English usage of pavement as the durable surfacing of roads and walkways. ... Mike Skinner aka The Streets (born 27 November 1978) is a chav, a rapper and musician from Birmingham, England. ... For the former Microsoft owned website see: Sidewalk. ... A structured building development of residential properties. ... Soil is the material on the surface of a lithosphere subject to weathering, and especially the earthy portion of that material. ... Earth (often referred to as The Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth in order of size. ... Illustration of the backyards of a surburban neighbourhood Suburbs are inhabited districts located either on the outer rim of a city or outside the official limits of a city (the term varies from country to country), or the outer elements of a conurbation. ...

Without nearby bare soil, hardscape requires artificial methods of drainage/runoff in order to carry off the sometimes massive volumes of water that would normally be mostly absorbed into the ground as groundwater. Lack of capacity can cause major problems after severe thunderstorms, hurricanes, typhoons, etc. Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given area. ... Run-off, composed of a mixture of water and soil along with any other organic or inorganic substances that may exist in the land, is the product of precipitation, snowmelt, over-irrigation, or other water coming in contact with the earth and carrying matter to streams, rivers, lakes, and other... Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of geologic formations. ... This article or section is missing needed references or citation of sources. ...

The water table in and around large areas of hardscape is usually very depleted because not enough rainwater is being absorbed into the soil of that area in order to help recharge the water table in that (usually urban) area. Such areas must then rely largely on "imported" freshwater from local or non-local lakes, reservoirs, dams, rivers, and streams. On the other hand, most homes in rural areas often use wells and springs as their primary source of freshwater because the local water table is being constantly recharged by the hydrologic cycle. The water table is the upper limit of abundant groundwater. ... Rain falling For other uses see Rain (disambiguation). ... For the village on the Isle of Wight, see Freshwater, Isle of Wight. ... Lake Clearwater, Ontario, Canada A lake is a large body of water, usually fresh water, surrounded by land. ... Gelmersee is a reservoir in Switzerland. ... DAMS is a racing team from France, involved in many areas of motorsports. ... For the Second World War frigate class, see River class frigate The Murray River in Australia A waterfall on the Ova da Fedoz, Switzerland A river is a large natural waterway. ... STREAMS is the Unix System V networking architecture. ... Rural area in Dalarna, Sweden Sheep eating grass in rural Australia Rural areas are sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities and towns. ... A water well is an artificial excavation or structure put down by any method such as digging, boring or drilling for the purposes of withdrawing water from underground aquifers. ... A natural spring. ... The water cycle—technically known as the hydrologic cycle—is the circulation of water within the earths hydrosphere, involving changes in the physical state of water between liquid, solid, and gas phases. ...

See also

• Impervious surface
• Hard landscape materials