Sometimes, authorities try to stop desire lines from forming by using fences to block walkers from crossing where they shouldn’t.
Elsewhere, such as at the Westfield shopping centre in South Morang, north of Melbourne, they will give in and pave the path that was chosen by walkers.
A desire path in South Kensington.Credit: Sophie Aubrey
Some institutions, such as Michigan State University in the United States, have waited for pedestrians to choose the best routes before formalising those tracks with asphalt and gravel.
While the idea of people and animals slowly forming their own paths is an ancient one, the term “desire path” is often attributed to French philosopher Gaston Bachelard in his 1958 book The Poetics of Space.
The reasons for desire paths forming were not always about finding the fastest way, said Rossiter.
Sometimes, it might be a route that is further away from traffic, or one that has better shade from trees. Planners should heed the lessons offered by desire paths, he said.
“A lot of women will not walk in some places as it feels unsafe,” said Rossiter. “They will take a shortcut to get somewhere as quick as they can.”
While some desire paths eventually get paved, not everyone thinks it’s a good idea to go that far.
A revised masterplan for Royal Park being considered by the City of Melbourne includes a proposal to pave desire lines on the native grassland circle, a large expanse of open space in the southern part of the bushland park.
The circle, which is 400 metres across and provides panoramic views of the city from a hilltop, has several desire lines running through its centre formed by walkers not wanting to go around the outside.
Landscape architect Ron Jones, one of the winners of the 1984 design competition that formed the basis of Royal Park’s original master plan, said it wasn’t anticipated that the circle would be used for commuting, such as to the nearby hospital or university.
“I think there are ways to accommodate that without necessarily bulldozing a path right across the hill,” he said.
Jones said the circle in its current form was intended to create a feeling of vast space in the middle of the city, which was an “extraordinarily wonderful thing to have”.
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“To do something that just cuts that up and takes away from that experience would be a terrible loss,” he said.
Fiona Bell, president of the Protectors of Public Lands Victoria, agreed that the desire lines should be left unpaved.
As well as changing how the park was meant to be used, Bell said, there were environmental concerns from adding new paths by increasing the urban heat effect and possibly affecting wildlife.
“We think it’s a bad idea. It’s supposed to be a circle with grass reflecting what was originally there,” she said. “It wasn’t meant to be a commuter sort of thing.”
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