Desire Lines

The phenomena of the ‘desire path’ is related to all of this. A desire path describes a path that is revealed from erosion by human foot traffic. They usually appear because constructed paths are not the most effective to get to one’s destination, and sometimes going “off the beaten path” becomes the best path.

Landscape architects are increasingly embracing desire lines from the outset, allowing desire lines to emerge in parks and campuses over a period of many months, and then paving the lines to make permanent walkways. The approach is certainly preferable to the more common alternative: Attempt to predict how people will navigate a landscape, render

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