desire line

noun

variants or desire path

plural desire lines or desire paths

: an unplanned route or path (such as one worn into a grassy surface by repeated foot traffic) that is used by pedestrians in preference to or in the absence of a designated alternative (such as a paved pathway)

There's a concept in landscape architecture called a desire line. It refers to a path worn into the ground by foot traffic, in defiance of the planned curves of sidewalks and roadways.

—Henry Grabar

This is the authoritarian approach to erasing a desire line: block it off with some type of obstacle—a fence, a bush, a pile of brush, a sharply (if, in this case, politely) worded sign.

—Robert Moor

The proposed fence would not enclose the parking lot, only limit its use as a desire path.

—Zachary Oren Smith

Examples of desire line in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

County staff had recommended paving the trail, which was referred to as a desire line: an unofficial path created by humans traveling the shortest distance between two points. —John Kelly, Washington Post, 5 Aug. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1993, in the meaning defined above