Desire Path

So, here's a thing I learned about last night. There's one at the end of our road - this one. It's the public, literally, marching with its feet against the will or design of the planners who put in walkways, paths or whatever. If there's a shorter route and enough people use it then a path will be created regardless of the laid out route.

Seems pretty obvious now I've said it, but I hadn't realised there is a recognised term for the phenomenon - a Desire Path. Not only that, but there have been academic studies about them. And I guess they officially become a thing when you discover a whole sub-reddit dedicated to them.

I'm ridiculously excited to have discovered this recognition and validation of a feature I've encountered many times but to which I gave but no thought until now. The Guardian article probably tells you as much as you need to know. But there is one aspect they missed. It's a tiny rebellion and a way of sticking it to the man each time you use a Desire Path.

I have already created a folder on my PC for more pics and I feel a project coming on. I'm going to see them all over the place now.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.