City planners and architects might be great at their jobs, but even the most brilliant minds can’t always anticipate what people want and need, and how they move. The best proof is the existence of mysterious so-called ‘desire paths,’ which are worn into the ground by humans and animals to take the shortest path.
We are featuring some of the most gorgeous and interesting desire paths from a fantastic online group, as a reminder that people always want to save time and energy, so they’ll take the shortest route.
We know which of these paths we’d love to walk down the most. What are your favorites?
#1 When A Desire Path Slowly Becomes Official
#2 Just Leave Some Huge Open Spaces And See What People Do With Them (Vratsa, Bulgaria)
#3 Desire Hedge
Desire paths are also known as desire lines, and they form when humans or animals take the most efficient route to get where they need to go. It is completely natural to want to have time and energy when you move.
The existence of desire paths is a fabulous opportunity for city planners and architects to look at how human movement naturally flows versus where they expect pedestrian traffic to go and what paths they should pave.
#4 Path Created By Squirrels Traveling Between Bird Feeders
#5 My City Kinda Acknowledge A Few Disired Paths Near My House By Cutting The Tall Grass Next To Them
#6 Desire Path Frequented By Dog Walkers
Aesthetics are absolutely important, and living in beautiful (not just functional and minimalist) surroundings can empower and energize you, yes. But, as an architect or planner, you also have to look at how pedestrians naturally move and adapt to the reality of the situation.
If, instead, you simply go through with your original designs, without caring for the people who live in the city you’re designing, you are making the entire system more inefficient and unfriendly than it needs to be.
#7 Desirestaircase?
#8 Nice One
#9 A Desire Path In The Making
Generally, it takes as few as 15 walks through an unpaved bit of ground to start wearing a visible trail. Then, people’s routes get guided down the new route much quicker because it is now visible. You intuitively want to follow it… and so you do. The desire path becomes even more visible, attracting even more pedestrians. The loop continues. And eventually, the trail becomes established.
#10 Does This Count? My Neighbours Cat Likes This Shortcut
#11 Desirepath That Can Be Seen From The Sky
#12 Desire Path With A View
Surprisingly, recent research suggests that when people are walking about, they naturally tend to turn to the left and walk in an anticlockwise direction.
“If you simply ask someone to start walking, whether they are wandering around a museum, a supermarket, or even an empty room, it is surprisingly likely that they will drift counterclockwise,” Dr Iñaki Echeverría-Huarte, at the University of Navarra in Spain, explains.
“Each of us carries a small personal bias to turn slightly to one side, and when many people share a space, those tiny biases add up into a net counterclockwise rotation.”
#13 This One Is Well Traveled, It Has It’s Own Billboards
#14 It Belongs Here
#15 I Mean, Even Pedestrian Crossing Is There
“None of us is perfectly symmetrical, and the way each person’s brain gathers sensory information and coordinates it with the muscles seems to tip them gently to one side. I should be honest, though. “We have tested several ideas and the bias stubbornly keeps showing up, so the exact mechanism is still an open question,” Dr Echeverría-Huarte said.
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#16 You Shall Not Path!
#17 Never Used The Original Path In 11 Years
#18 Because Walking Above The Path Is More Fun
This is on top of a wall that protects against high tides, Leo.org says its a sheet pile wall on english. Theres roughly a 3m drop to the right and 1m to the left. The moss on top of the wall is worn down where people and animals walk
During an earlier interview with the friendly moderator team running the r/DesirePath online community, We learned all about the group’s history and the phenomenon surrounding natural foot traffic.
“Once people know they [desire paths] have a name, they start seeing them all over the place. It’s a ‘once you see, you can’t unsee’ scenario,” one moderator explained to us.
“If you haven’t noticed a desire path before, look for worn-down grass made by people who step off the sidewalk and decide to take the shortcut instead. They’re not the designated, paved paths. They’re paths that are trod on the grass in between,” the mod told the We team earlier.
#19 They Think The Sign Will Help
#20 I Am Sorry To Announce The Tragic Death Of One Of Our Brothers
#21 Through The Meadows
The r/DesirePath moderator said that, in Dutch, some people call desire paths ‘elephant paths,’ though they’re not quite sure how common the phrase is. “I think the translation is Olifantenpaadje. Someone on the subreddit said they’re called Trampelpfad in German,” they said.
“When I originally joined the subreddit, it was about 3,000 subscribers deep. I’d seen someone mention it in a comment section, likely on a post of a desire path on /r/pics or a mention in r/AskReddit of these paths being paved following natural foot traffic on a college campus,” the mod told We earlier.
#22 Which Path Do You Choose: Direct Or Panoramic?
#23 It Persevered Past The Hedge And The Fence
#24 A Fat One
“A user named SecularScience created the subreddit after someone posted a picture of a desire path on another subreddit, probably r/pics, and a commenter noted that they have a name! It [the online community] emerged out of curiosity,” the mod shared.
They added that the community continues to expand through word of mouth. “When someone unknowingly posts a picture of a desire path, people tag the subreddit and the community grows.”
#25 Maybe An Overtake Path
#26 Sophisticated
#27 The Amount Of Time Saved By This One Is Insane
Currently, the r/DesirePath community gets 34k weekly visitors. The online group has been around since 2013, and it will celebrate its 13th birthday later this year, in September.
According to the moderators, anyone posting photos in the group should focus only on the paths that pedestrians prefer, not the ones that humans create. What’s more, this particular online community mainly focuses on human paths, not ones made by motor vehicles or captive animals. Other animal paths might be fine, but it is up to the discretion of the mods and the community.
#28 Does A Path Created By Ants Count?
#29 A Triple
#30 Oh No They Blocked It
We can’t wait to hear what you have to say, Pandas.
What are the closest desire paths to your home, school, or work? How often do you take desire paths during your daily commute? If you were a city planner or architect, how would you improve your local area to be more people-friendly?
Share your thoughts (and photos if you have any!) in the comments at the very bottom of this list.
#31 The Desire Path Across An Active Runway That LED To A Crash, Colón Island
#32 I Don’t Think People Are Listening
#33 Path From The Sidewalk To A Cinema Parking Lot Saving You 400m To Your Hotel
#34 Best I’ve Ever Seen In Person
#35 Fun Sign At A School Trying To Abolish, Terminate, And End A Desire Path
#36 What Kind Of Path Is This
#37 Students Desiring Food More Than Using The Intended Path
#38 Classic One
#39 Found A Rare Desire Path For Cyclists
#40 Humans: Invent Roads. Also Humans: Nah, I Forge My Own Destiny
#41 Beverly Hills, La
#42 Paved Desire Path At University
#43 Don’t If Thus Counts, But It Looks Like The Pavements Were Built Thus Way In Purpose
#44 Who Woulda Thought
#45 Shortcut Between A Hotel And Truck Stop
#46 Here Is My First Ever Post For This Community
#47 To The Bus Stop
#48 Look How They Massacred My Boy
#49 The People Have Spoken
#50 We’ve Been Betrayed
#51 If Not Path Then Why Path Shaped?
#52 The Virginia Tech Path To Beer
#53 I’m A Fan Most Of The Time, But This One Seems A Bit Much
#54 Between Two Supermarkets In Germany
#55 Newly Renovated And They Still Didn’t Plan For This
#56 At First, I Was Mystified
#57 Don’t Mind If I Do
#58 This Path Is Near An IKEA At My Grandmas Home
#59 Nobody Could Plan For This
#60 No Bikes? Say Less
#61 Next Level Desire Path
#62 One In The Making
#63 Why Only One When You Can Have Four?
#64 Small Shortcut Is Still A Shortcut
#65 Saved Me A Good 40 Seconds. All Helps
#66 Cedar Point Amusement Park, Sandusky, Oh
#67 Desire Paths Created By Rushed Students
#68 I Was Wondering How The Hell This Desirepath Was Formed, But Then It Hit Me!
#69 Triple Desirepath At Work
#70 Saving Five Seconds Each Time
#71 A Grassy One
#72 That Little Tunnel Is Meant For The Elementary School Kids To Cross The Street (Taken At Eagle Springs Elementary, Htx
#73 Blocked A Path They Gravelled Before
#74 Why Walk Lot Step When Few Step Do Job?
#75 Desirepath In Sapporo, Hokkaido
