Recently, I watched a TED talk by Daniele Quercia titled “Happy Maps“, in which he encouraged all of us to take a chance sometimes and take the road less travelled, rather than the most efficient. As he put it, you can likely have a more enjoyable experience by eschewing the world that is “fabricated for efficiency” and look for something that is perhaps, quieter, greener, and more beautiful.
People’s paths can sometimes tell us a lot. Whether we actually do what we say we do or not, one of the more interesting aspects about human behaviour in places, is that we tend to leave evidence of our actions behind for analysis. In urban planning they call this concept desire lines. They are the organic emergence of where people want to go versus where we plan for them to go. Have you ever seen …
