Desire lines (also known as desire paths or desire tracks) refer to paths that form through repeated use, and particularly those that bypass built roads and paths and usually also provide a shortcut across open space. In an urban environment, sidewalks and roads are built and maintained according to a plan that corresponds to and connects a grid of parcels of land for various uses. Pedestrians often deviate from these predetermined routes when there is open space between their location and destination. They might walk in a diagonal to avoid turning at a corner, or they may walk directly to avoid traversing a curved or circuitous paved route. The accumulation of traces of individual paths on turf produces a well-trod path, reinforcing the desire line as an alternative route for those who follow. In this sense, not only are desire lines individual expressions of a preference for a shorter or easier path to a destination, they also provide an example of thinking in groups. An alternative topology of points and connections emerges from individuals responding to the material trace of other people’s actions. The earth acts as a medium for transmitting signals between users to coordinate their actions.
Sources for discussion
Foster, Alec, and Joshua P. Newell. 2019. “Detroit’s Lines of Desire: Footpaths and Vacant Land in the Motor City.” Landscape and Urban Planning 189 (September): 260–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.04.009.
Jørgensen, Nina Stener. 2022. “Form Follows People?: Copenhagen’s Ny Nørreport as a Post-Participatory Project.” Architecture and Culture 10 (1): 21–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/20507828.2022.2027637.
Loor, Ignacio, and James Evans. 2021. “Understanding the Value and Vulnerability of Informal Infrastructures: Footpaths in Quito.” Journal of Transport Geography 94 (June): 103-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.103112.
Saxena, Neeraj, Taha Hossein Rashidi, Joseph Babana, and Clinton Cheung. 2020. “Pedestrian Characteristics That Favor Desire Lines Despite Closure.” Journal of Urban Planning and Development 146 (2). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000577.