I live in a desert (Southwest USA), and gravel/rock yards are everywhere. The biggest issue I have with my desert landscaping is that the rock surface is very unstable, which makes it difficult to walk on for my elderly mom. We switched to the smallest “chat” rocks, which are easier to walk on but get caught in our shoes and dragged into the house to scratch floors and hurt bare feet.

Better than cement, not as good as a permeable surface such as compacted decomposed granite or ground cover plants. I miss having at least a small plot of lawn that can be walked on, but can live without it. What the desert needs most, though, are more trees to shade surfaces. We have acres of concrete and asphalt, which contribute way more to the heat than rock landscapes.