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 Desirepath That Can Be Seen From The Sky
Image source: Alexisto15
#2 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
Image source: Pri-The-2nd
#3 They Think The Sign Will Help
Image source: oralprophylaxis
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 Desire Hedge
Image source: leo_cherry_blossom
#5 Desire Path Frequented By Dog Walkers
Image source: Illustrious_Sail2965
#6 Students Desiring Food More Than Using The Intended Path
Image source: DesVaters
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 Which Path Do You Choose: Direct Or Panoramic?
Image source: kawanero
#8 When A Desire Path Slowly Becomes Official
Image source: Truelz
#9 Does This Count? My Neighbours Cat Likes This Shortcut
Image source: Ok-Return7643
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 Classic One
Image source: FlyingSuperpimp
#11 I’m A Fan Most Of The Time, But This One Seems A Bit Much
Image source: labbusrattus
#12 Desire Path With A View
Image source: Strange_Bodybuilder7
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 A Triple
Image source: TheCaveJelly64
#14 Nice One
Image source: General_Hamster2038
#15 Oh No They Blocked It
Image source: nicol9
“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.
#16 To The Bus Stop
Image source: witchesofus
#17 That Little Tunnel Is Meant For The Elementary School Kids To Cross The Street (Taken At Eagle Springs Elementary, Htx
Image source: superderpshii
#18 Humans: Invent Roads. Also Humans: Nah, I Forge My Own Destiny
Image source: Zmiverse-Eth
During an earlier interview with the friendly moderator team running the r/DesirePath online community, Bored Panda 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 Bored Panda team earlier.
#19 It Belongs Here
Image source: schzffr
#20 Beverly Hills, La
Image source: TangerineHooker
#21 Fun Sign At A School Trying To Abolish, Terminate, And End A Desire Path
Image source: jsoliloquy
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 Bored Panda earlier.
#22 Wtf Kind Of Path Is This
Image source: lightning847
#23 Don’t If Thus Counts, But It Looks Like The Pavements Were Built Thus Way In Purpose
Image source: Ramazan__
#24 I Was Wondering How The Hell This Desirepath Was Formed, But Then It Hit Me!
Image source: AmbitiousExit247
“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 Triple Desirepath At Work
Image source: python4all
#26 Saving Five Seconds Each Time
Image source: IAmAQuantumMechanic
#27 Shortcut Between A Hotel And Truck Stop
Image source: a116jxb
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 Here Is My First Ever Post For This Community
Image source: k1smb3r
#29 It Persevered Past The Hedge And The Fence
Image source: jdgmental
#30 Found A Rare Desire Path For Cyclists
Image source: dogryan100
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 Between Two Supermarkets In Germany
Image source: Moistlos
#32 The Desire Path Across An Active Runway That LED To A Crash, Colón Island
Image source: DannyCrane9476
#33 Small Shortcut Is Still A Shortcut
Image source: dkarius
#34 This One Is Well Traveled, It Has It’s Own Billboards
Image source: nothas
#35 A Grassy One
Image source: tarrask
#36 I Don’t Think People Are Listening
Image source: 98570
#37 Look How They Massacred My Boy
Image source: Gahouf
#38 Blocked A Path They Gravelled Before
Image source: bird-noises
#39 Path Created By Squirrels Traveling Between Bird Feeders
Image source: WaddlesJP13
#40 A Fat One
Image source: Taderyx
#41 The People Have Spoken
Image source: [deleted]
#42 We’ve Been Betrayed
Image source: ThatSirWaffles
#43 Maybe An Overtake Path
Image source: websterflaming
#44 I Mean, Even Pedestrian Crossing Is There
Image source: nixass
#45 Newly Renovated And They Still Didn’t Plan For This
Image source: benjchelt
#46 At First, I Was Mystified
Image source: jcasman
#47 Don’t Mind If I Do
Image source: tubaraoakasaga
#48 Nobody Could Plan For This
Image source: trailbob
#49 If Not Path Then Why Path Shaped?
Image source: ImpossibleAide3039
#50 Never Used The Original Path In 11 Years
Image source: MineTrain
#51 A Desire Path In The Making
Image source: Flight_316
#52 Paved Desire Path At University
Image source: bigphathomo
#53 My City Kinda Acknowledge A Few Disired Paths Near My House By Cutting The Tall Grass Next To Them
Image source: koxu2006
#54 Sophisticated
Image source: FrenchFryRaven
#55 Next Level Desire Path
Image source: PL4X10S
#56 Cedar Point Amusement Park, Sandusky, Oh
Image source: Comfortable-Meal-320
#57 Best I’ve Ever Seen In Person
Image source: OreosnMilk247
#58 Just Leave Some Huge Open Spaces And See What People Do With Them (Vratsa, Bulgaria)
Image source: StannieTheBoy
#59 The Amount Of Time Saved By This One Is Insane
Image source: AdOtherwise655
#60 Who Woulda Thought
Image source: Just-some_guy0
#61 Why Walk Lot Step When Few Step Do Job?
Image source: wattspower
#62 One In The Making
Image source: Galaxyffbe
#63 Does A Path Created By Ants Count?
Image source: lardladd
#64 Desire Paths Created By Rushed Students
Image source: Madsthinker
#65 Why Only One When You Can Have Four?
Image source: kapege
#66 Through The Meadows
Image source: allesumsonst
#67 Desirestaircase?
Image source: Rango_4
#68 Desirepath In Sapporo, Hokkaido
Image source: EagleNED
#69 Saved Me A Good 40 Seconds. All Helps
Image source: Kevster020
#70 This Path Is Near An IKEA At My Grandmas Home
Image source: TamiGirl14
#71 You Shall Not Path!
Image source: Linorelai
#72 Path From The Sidewalk To A Cinema Parking Lot Saving You 400m To Your Hotel
Image source: jnnxde
#73 The Virginia Tech Path To Beer
Image source: TeCoob
#74 No Bikes? Say Less
Image source: seriesmythhunter
#75 I Am Sorry To Announce The Tragic Death Of One Of Our Brothers
Image source: deceze
