Desire Paths?

October 29, 2024 11:02 AM

Desire paths are where people make a more convenient route than the one that has been made by town planners etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path I am familiar with this concept but I am absolutely sure there is another name for them but I can't remember it! Can anyone please help with this one?
posted by debord to Human Relations (16 answers total)

The wikipedia page you link to, at the bottom, says:

"game trail, social trail, fishermen trail, destiny path, herd path, cow path, elephant path, buffalo trace, goat track, pig trail, use trail and bootleg trail"

"Pave the cow paths" is a common expression - maybe that's what you're thinking of?
posted by siskin at 11:08 AM on October 29 [2 favorites]

Often they're called desire lines too, though the Wikipedia article mentions that.
posted by urbanlenny at 11:13 AM on October 29 [6 favorites]

I'm pretty sure I read an article at some point that combined desire paths and holloways--are you thinking of holloway?
posted by wintersweet at 11:15 AM on October 29

A related term is neckdowns, and its amusing more recent winter flavor, sneckdowns.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:02 PM on October 29 [4 favorites]

I've heard "will path"
posted by SaltySalticid at 12:33 PM on October 29

I've heard in usage desire lines and social paths. ianaem
posted by j_curiouser at 12:40 PM on October 29

Definitely desire lines, that's the phrase I use in my work when the topic arises.

there's also a concept call The Stranger's Path - from an essay The Strangers Path (Landscapes, University of Massachusetts Press, 1957 by JB Jackson) - I don't think it is on the web anywhere, but some insight on JB Jackson here [humanecologyreview .pdf], in a way the stranger's path can be seen as what makes people mark the landscape by moving through it, where those marks are physical trails, or less immediately visible traces.
posted by unearthed at 12:59 PM on October 29 [2 favorites]

I hear "social trail" a lot although that's specifically for like, trails
posted by goodbyewaffles at 1:50 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]

Mechanical Erosion? Spite Path?
posted by oomny at 2:09 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]

I've heard "wish paths".
posted by wnissen at 3:01 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]

In addition to the other animal terms siskin quotes, I think I've heard "deer trail".
posted by dick dale the vampire at 4:34 PM on October 29

Shortcut
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 7:01 PM on October 29 [4 favorites]

Angel trails is what I've heard.
posted by StephenF at 10:39 PM on October 29

Mod note: Post edited to make URL clickable.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 5:05 AM on October 30

I don't think this is what you're looking for, but in England when landowners tried to prevent peasants from walking through their lands, the peasants were determined to have "rights-of-way" to walk through these previously public areas.
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:15 AM on October 30

"Cut" or "cut-through" are words I have heard and used, though those are generally more substantial deviations.
posted by quadrilaterals at 7:40 AM on October 30