Desire paths – trails formed by people or animals taking the most logical and convenient route, rather than the approved pathways set out by bitumen, gravel and signage – are having a moment.
Tens of thousands have contributed snaps of them to Reddit threads. Urban planners study them. My own 13-year-old, factoid-obsessed son recently brought up the term while we were walking the dog. Equally mundane and profound, these foot-traffic-forged paths have become modern-day symbols of human agency and the triumph of common sense over authority.
