Formalizing the desire lines

by | Dec 28, 2022 | Blog

Are you an urban planner? I’m not.

And that’s probably why neither of us has heard the term “formalizing the desire lines” before. (Unless, of course, you have, in which case I wish you would have told me sooner 🙂

I came across this concept in a post on Mastodon from @JasonThorne@mastodon.social.

What it means (in urban planning terms) is paying attention to where people are currently walking/riding/driving(?) and building infrastructure there.

For example, if people are always cutting through a grassy section of a park, chuck some gravel down and make it a formal pathway. After all, you know it’s where people want to walk.

But is it hitting you, as it hit me, that this is also a smart way to make decisions for your business?

Things like:

  • Tweaking your offer to match or add what ideal customers ask for.
  • Adjusting your positioning to align with how your audience sees you.
  • Adding conversion points where people are most eager to buy.

Sometimes, all you need to do to move things forward more smoothly is formalize the desire lines.

Not an urban planner,
James

P.S. Here’s the post (with explanatory pictures):

Just formalizing the desire lines is not a bad way to build up your city’s pedestrian and active transportation network.

​#UrbanDesign #UrbanPlanning​ #CityPlanning #Walking #HamOnt​ #Urbanism #BikeTooter​ #Parks #LandscapeDesign​ #LandscapeArchitecture​