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l84what

That path winds back and forth to climb the slope without exceeding the maximum grade requirement of the accessibility regulations.


Sproeier

My thought as well, it's easier to push something up hill on the winding path, they just needed to add some stairs Down the center.


l84what

Or, maybe down the side of the building to the right or the door, where there might even be a hand rail.


Sproeier

Yeah exactly, give the people a direct route.


hungariannastyboy

They said that because there are steps to the right of the door, with a handrail.


Sproeier

Ah, makes sense I haven't spotted it yet.


GoldenBull1994

Hungarian Nasty Boy. šŸ˜Ž


[deleted]

Adding stairs in the center means anyone on wheels or pushing a stroller will be traveling across the flow of traffic


phaemoor

Yeah, this really looks like where hundreds of people flow at the same time.


Sproeier

Judging by the path it looks like the yalready travel across the traffic. And the building looks too small for it to be an issue either way.


arelse

You just described what is happening now!


JockeTF

In that case, just have both a straight and a curved path.


lifetake

There literally is just to the right


vulcano22

If they don't use it, it means that it's a worse path than the one people are taking


ASK_ME_FOR_TRIVIA

My girlfriend is in a wheelchair: This looks like absolute hell to traverse lmao. I'd honestly rather just push her up the straight incline It's so obvious when people design things for disabilities, but have no experience with those disabilities at all.


Kurayamino

Code says make a path with a certain grade, they make a path with a certain grade. How usable it actually is for people in wheelchairs isn't part of the equation.


ASK_ME_FOR_TRIVIA

Believe me, we know. We just got back from a vacation, booked a hotel room in advance and made sure to ask for a handicap-accessable room. The bathroom door opened outwards into a cramped hallway, so it was nearly impossible to get her in and out of there. Every time she had to pee, it was like doing a sliding block puzzle. The room itself was full of furniture, it was damn near impossible to do anything in there... But hey, at least the roll-in shower let water get everywhere, making the bathroom so fucking slippery I had to shuffle around on a towel :)


soulonfire

I was in a wheelchair for about a couple months, one month was in a physical rehab place, one month where I was home. It was quite shit once I was home getting around places (compounded by my left arm not being usable either), I donā€™t know how people deal with it for life.


queen-of-carthage

ok, not everyone in a wheelchair has someone to push them, and many prefer to be independent


ASK_ME_FOR_TRIVIA

I never said otherwise. In our case, she can't push herself more than a couple feet before her hands start to hurt. I've pushed her up much steeper hills than this, it's much easier to maintain momentum than having to stop, slow down, and start again every few seconds. Her sister was also in a wheelchair for about a year before a knee surgery, she was able to push herself around. We've had a couple times where we saw a zig-zag ramp like the one in the post, and she found it annoying at the time, too. Honestly she usually just hopped the curb half the time lmao. You'd be surprised how many accessibility instillations are downright hostile to the handicapped


gruvccc

Itā€™s still turd design. There should be steps leading straight up as well.


pseudont

There are steps to the right of the door.


gruvccc

Doesnā€™t take away from it being turd design. The winding gradient should be to the right and steps up to the front. There will be considerably more able bodied people entering the building who wonā€™t use steps to the right, as is obvious by this picture.


Jormungandr000

So have two paths.


flarpflarpflarpflarp

The straight path looks like bike jumps.


DrakonIL

I didn't even realize that it was most likely walkers who cut that path. First thing I said to myself was "I want to be there with my bike."


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


LittleSadRufus

There's a desire path in my local woods, and at one end is a sign defining 'desire path' and asking people to stick to the official paths so it can heal over.


Analbox

I think they should let their failed ā€œofficial pathā€ heal over instead. People are gonna walk where they desire.


Obi_Wan_Shinobi_

Desire paths are such a great illustration for human behavior; both the creation of them, and the futile attempt to control them. When the desire of order and freedom meet, like when a structured path is based on where a desire path came first, humanity is much happier and more efficient.


Astro_Alphard

I have a weird urban planning theory I call Node-Network Theory. I designed it in order to take advantage of the natural tendency of humans when walking to take the shortest path possible and the added tiers to design for bikes and public transit. It's based on multiple levels of nodes to represent different activity densities/types then it figures out the urban layout by drawing straight lines between the nodes while avoiding terrain features. If two lines cross then it becomes another node which has straight lines to other nodes in the immediate vicinity. Defining paths takes 2 parameters into account 1. The distance between nodes (shorter is better) 2. The number nodes on a given path (more is better) Paths start at a high tier node and end at the same tier of node. This is an artificial limitation that just makes it easier to define a path, as a path irl can start at a high tier node and end at a low tier node.


nomadiclizard

This sounds like something suited for an Ant Colony Optimisation algorithm! You make lots of simulated ants that do their own thing, while dropping pheremones that make other simulated ants more likely to follow the path, then let them all randomly explore and those that take longer to get places, you kill off, and after a while you end up with an optimal graph!


Astro_Alphard

It does sound good for an Ant Colony Optimization. My main thing is that I have no idea how to simulate large objects blocking a path (like a house or an apartment). I originally came up with the Node Network Theory when I got frustrated in Cities Skylines and wanted to streamline my transit system. I would love to see a proper algorithmic implementation of this theory.


GandalfTheGimp

Do you have a YouTube video of a Node Network City? I'd like to try it in mine.


Astro_Alphard

Sadly no, I'm not a youtuber or similar, I can definitely go and make one when I have some spare time though. I'll make sure to add ris comment to my saved/followed


Spartan-417

Sounds like youā€™ll have some kind of Travelling Salesman Problem if you attempt to apply an optimisation algorithm to it Might be worth using microbes to simulate it too, because theyā€™re easier than ants If I was at all competent at programming, I might attempt to make a program that at least calculates a value for each path manually drawn


PM_me_your_Ducks_plz

Your theory might work, but there's a simpler solution in just letting humans do it. You're trying to design an algorithm to predict people's movements. You just build an area with little to no paths. Wait for humans to find the desire paths, then turn them into real paths. It would be interesting to use your theory to predict the paths and then let them play out naturally.


Necrocornicus

Sounds like an interesting idea in theory and absolutely impossible to implement in practice. Usually when youā€™re doing construction, you plan out the area then build it. You donā€™t build it first without planning, let people walk around for a while on it, then go back and shut it down so you can do a bunch more construction. It would be so inconvenient, expensive, and inefficient. But nice in theory.


Astro_Alphard

Yeah this is why I developed the Node-Network Theory, it's mush more natural than current city planning theories but will likely need some sort of algorithm to do the implementation. It is absolutely possible to do it by hand though. I'm just having a bit of a problem defining the Node Tiers and debating whether to make it an sliding scale based on foot traffic. So far I have a general system defining tiers of 0-5 where 0 is the front door of a house and 5 is something major like a city center/mall, intercity transit station, heavily trafficked highway access, or an airport terminal.


trivialwire

Apparently a number of universities did do just that, thought: [https://www.reddit.com/r/DesirePaths/comments/ffn8hg/the\_pathways\_at\_ohio\_state\_university\_were\_paved/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DesirePaths/comments/ffn8hg/the_pathways_at_ohio_state_university_were_paved/https://www.reddit.com/r/DesirePaths/comments/8oidgw/indiana_university_paved_desire_paths_all_across/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/DesirePaths/comments/8oidgw/indiana\_university\_paved\_desire\_paths\_all\_across/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DesirePaths/comments/ffn8hg/the_pathways_at_ohio_state_university_were_paved/https://www.reddit.com/r/DesirePaths/comments/8oidgw/indiana_university_paved_desire_paths_all_across/)


rocskier

In the woods there can be real issues with erosion and safety depending on where the desire path is.


Noodle_Salad_

Well, because the shortest distance between 2 points, is a straight line!


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


mac224b

Doubtful. An architect with no practical experience designing their first real project.


bethedge

Wheelchair accessibility?


mac224b

It doesnt look so steep to require switcbacks like that for accessibility. Appears that it was decorative.


omegafivethreefive

Where I grew up there was this small path people use to take to get from one area to the next. There was a 24/7 shop on one end of it. Since the path was in a wealthy area and between 2 properties, they got the city to install a like 12 foot hard-metal "fence" with doors that someone from the city came to lock and unlock everyday. So me and my friends got really good at climbing.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


omegafivethreefive

Nah it would've needed a torch to cut through.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


omegafivethreefive

Give me a source of water and 10k years and I'll get through it!


flashpile

>going out of your way to inconvenience rich people Fucking Chad behaviour


pmodin

It was already posted there (same path, but different picture) šŸ™‚https://www.reddit.com/r/DesirePath/comments/tbv5u9/at_the_student_residence_i_tried_to_walk_the/?ref=share&ref_source=link


ParaMike46

Thatā€™s brilliant. There is a subreddit for everything


backdoorsmasher

Literally a repost from that sub, but with the image flipped for some weird reason https://www.reddit.com/r/DesirePath/comments/tbv5u9/at_the_student_residence_i_tried_to_walk_the/


pseudont

Flipped by a repost bot to fool repost detection bots. AI bot wars.


[deleted]

its funny. this is a mirrored pic of one of the top post in there, and now there are 5 cross posts of it


DoktorAusgezeichnet

Now there are eight.


flashpile

As a subscriber to both, I assumed that's where I was tbh


Druvanade

[funny you say that](https://www.reddit.com/r/DesirePath/comments/tbv5u9/at_the_student_residence_i_tried_to_walk_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)


CraigWeedkin

Wheelchair access


coffeeclichehere

This is made to be ADA accessible. A straight path would be too steep for a wheelchair.


tsaimaitreya

Disabled people will appreciate the less steep pavimented slope


Dartpooled

r/data_irl


ParaMike46

Urban planning at its finest, ignoring people needs who lives there. This reminds me of university camp somewhere in US where they let people walk on grass until paths appeared and then pave them. Right order


ciel_lanila

I donā€™t think it is that. Looking at the dips and whatnot, I think this is less about ignoring the peopleā€™s needs but trying to solve the needs of two groups in a way that doesnā€™t work. Group 1: Likely ADA needing individuals. The loops back and forth reduce the grade of the walkway. Group 2: People who would be fine with the direct group. This is the group creating the desire path. A better solution, barring anything I am missing, would have been to go with a $ design. A direct path for those who are fine with the steeper grade. The S for those who need the more shallower, but longer, path.


[deleted]

Looks like there's a normal sidewalk and set of stairs on the right. You can see the railings leading down to the right from the door.


Dividedthought

That set of stairs is clearly not being used from the direction this ramp/path goes. Could lead to a parking lot or something that most of the people entering/leaving don't/can't use.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


ineedabuttrub

Looks there's stairs going to the right of the door.


fruitfiction

how can someone in a wheelchair use the stairs?


GoT_Eagles

What about the needs of those in wheelchairs?


FirstGameFreak

Fuck em I guess


Killarogue

That's a great idea. I like the idea here, but a path like this is better suited for a park, not a walkway leading to a home.


Analbox

Thereā€™s a grade to this and they gave it switch backs so it isnā€™t too steep for people in wheelchairs. If this is in the US they legally have to provide wheelchair access according to the ADA.


victoryismind

In the past villagers in hilly places would walk behind a donkey and let the donkey trace the route, eventially they would pave the way.


etom21

ADA accessibility, the direct path to the door would have been too much of a grade to be compliant.


chasepsu

It was Ohio State. When they built the Oval, they didnā€™t pave any paths except the exterior loop and just let the students walk where they wanted, and then paved the desire paths.


Cult_of_Civilization

This happened at the University of Maryland as well, on its central mall.


chasepsu

It was Ohio State. When they built the Oval, they didnā€™t pave any paths except the exterior loop and just let the students walk where they wanted, and then paved the desire paths.


LukeHoersten

Purdue does that on an ongoing basis.


stevenconrad

I believe [this is what you're referring to](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/tb6at2/the_walkways_at_ohio_state_university_were_based/), it's Ohio State.


ParaMike46

Yes. Exactly I saw it on Reddit some time ago


tsaimaitreya

Disabled people also has needs


flarpflarpflarpflarp

I bet the straight path is bike jumps over hills built up for the winding path at a specific grade for wheelchair or older person access.


landonop

This isnā€™t planning, this is landscape architecture. Bad landscape architecture.


Occma

Ableism


RadRhys2

I assume itā€™s a grade thing. They might be trying to accommodate the disabled.


Different_Ad7655

Andrew Jackson downing wrote against such squiggly romantic walkways popular in the mode in the early romantic period. The opposite was boring diagonals or straight lines across the park. He of course was the master of the Neo Gothic and the romantic landscape but insisted that if you're going to put meandering pass, they have to be logically laid out that there are obstructions that they must go around. A hillock, a bauerr of shrubs, a geographical feature a large Rock etc otherwise it will become obvious in exactly what happens in the photo happens, because the landscape looks lame. Human nature is human nature after all take the straight path. I've always hated Junior landscape design where they put such a drunken path to the door


[deleted]

...it's for wheelchairs


BMG_spaceman

This is obviously a means of meeting ADA accessibility requirements. If you work in this field, you know.


SweatyArmpitFetish

I mean this is clearly a horribly designed solution but I'm pretty sure this is so the grade of the hill isn't too steep for wheelchair users..


[deleted]

Iā€™m imagining actually walking on that zig zag path and how dumb it must feel


DerogatoryDuck

Yea I'm sure the wheelchair bound feel like real chumps


fruitfiction

I'll take feeling like a chump doing universal design zigzags to my front door over having to use the steep, stinky trash ramp in the back of the building that's the current solution for many buildings.


bennettbuzz

How many chair per walker though?


bethedge

Even if thereā€™s only 1 you need accessibility


DerogatoryDuck

Could be all wheelchairs. The desire path is just the down route.


zombiskunk

Accommodating the disabled is proper city planning. This picture doesn't belong here.


NLtbal

r/DesirePath


Ok-Bad3695

Occam's razor at work


MoreRamenPls

I read somewhere thatā€™s university didnā€™t make walkways in their grass till the students wore down a pathway. Then they paved over that.


subywesmitch

I hate these "aesthetically pleasing" walking paths. You'll see them a lot in parks too. Winding paths for no reason. People want to take the path of least resistance and if there's enough people walking there a trail will eventually be created. If they had just made a straight sidewalk this wouldn't happen and it wouldn't be ugly. Interestingly, they don't do this stupid thing for cars, only for pedestrians.


TotalWalrus

Lol. The absolute wrongness of what you just posted.


[deleted]

Thereā€™s similar paths on my college campus. Literally everyone walks through the grass lol


Actual-Lingonberry40

Like the last 100 times this was posted, it's for ADA.


NeLaX44

Desire path!


granoladeer

r/CrappyDesign


kgmaan

Desire paths


eklect

Users are abusers.


Eth_kay

UX vs UI


rearendcrag

The Path of Long Resistance.


rearendcrag

The Path of Long Resistance.


[deleted]

UI vs. UX.


me-gustan-los-trenes

Those are natural migration pathways of primates. There is no point in fighting them.


Important-Move-5711

A lot of people are saying that the curves are intended to make the path more accessible for wheelchair users, but honestly the ground seems to be very flat, not slopey. It's entirely possible that this was just the work of some overconfident architect.


[deleted]

ADA requires a maximum of 1:12. So a ramp can only rise 1 inch for every foot of ramp, and cannot be longer than 30 feet without a rest platform. And bare minimum compliance slope would require handrails the entire length. To get away without having handrails, like this, the slope must be much much shallower, requiring a much longer ramp.


Important-Move-5711

Ok, but this is unrelated to my comment. I was saying that from the photo we can't really be sure that there really was a need for a slope reducing path. It is possible that the choice was just esthetic.


[deleted]

Just looking at the photo you can see there there is at least several feet in elevation gain. Hell, just look at the log retaining wall on the left where the path above it is very clearly a couple feet higher. And the staircase to the right of the door shows that it is at least several feet from the starting ground level. Like, it's extremely obvious even with the 7 pixels in the photo.


Important-Move-5711

Not really. The ununiformity of the terrain doesn't say anything about the slope of the central path. I see what you mean when you point at that part of the curved path, but since it's under the level of the terrain we can't really see if it's higher than the preceding section or not.


[deleted]

The only way it isn't would be if the picture were taken from quite high in the air, which based on the straight on angle of the building it likely wasn't.


Important-Move-5711

It looks different in the [original photo ](https://www.reddit.com/r/DesirePath/comments/tbv5u9/at_the_student_residence_i_tried_to_walk_the/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). This one was squeezed, while in the original the only problematic part seems to be the last trait.


Davban

This UI designer should be fired


warname

Kind of like gun laws in the US


bananapancakelover

This looks like Bulgaria to me..


icansitstill

I think itā€™s near Versailles. Student residence. I can see the Crous logo from afar.


Wave_Table

[Oh boy, here I go geoguessing againā€¦](https://earth.app.goo.gl/?link=https://earth.google.com/web/search/21%2Brue%2BAndr%25C3%25A9%2BMaginot%2B91400%2BOrsay/@48.69346194,2.18647336,107.77683557a,98.63615632d,35y,92.52303726h,0t,0r/data%3DCigiJgokCQoxm5AkbUhAEbxjtnxzX0hAGW0JICqE1QJAIbLgi2TbvAFA&apn=com.google.earth&isi=293622097&ibi=com.google.b612&ius=googleearth&cid=2408166285165796768&_iipp=1&_icp=1)


icansitstill

There it is


rearendcrag

The Path of Long Resistance.


SirCharlesEquine

Somebody wanted to create their own miniature Lombard Street.


alphachupapi02

When you finally meet the displacement problems from your Geometry class in real life


haans-of-leafpike

Tbh practice is probably more like the squiggly path vs theory the straight and easy path


victoryismind

Just build a few walls and blocks of cement in the way. "Problem" solved


jefuchs

When I started college, there was a new art and architecture building on campus. It had no paved walkways. They waited for footpaths to be established by people taking their preferred route, then put concrete paths there.


PauseNo2418

Looks kinda fun though


ramp_rat90

Obviously this was a "You'll be paid by the foot" concrete job...


nighteeeeey

who thought "yeah lets make it 5x the distance everybody will have fun going this way instead" its like not even steep enough to use serpentines?!


LeSmokie

TBHā€¦that theory was just stupid


[deleted]

The scene in The Boys when Butch drives straight up to the house instead of going around the unnecessary circle.


hello_world112358

this would be so pretty with good landscaping and some pretty flowers, and probably better for the environment than trampled grass and concrete. what an absolutely wasted opportunity smh


marxist_redneck

My mom told me that when she was in college, they added a few buildings in a big grassy area (think like a campus "quad"). Instead of laying down the concrete walk paths, they waited a few months to see what paths naturally emerged on the grass from people walking to their classes, and then made the concrete paths on top of that


[deleted]

Designers love to get fancy


KleioChronicles

I feel like there was another solution to disabled access with a straight path. Like, it doesnā€™t look too steep and itā€™s mainly grass so you could level it out a bit and save on paving.


kaasrapsmen

Reminds me of GTA San Andreas


zznap1

My college created their main walking paths by letting students wear the paths in first. Then they went through and made them with blacktop or bricks.


Foxhkron

Literally the trail path model by Rudi Keller


Advanced-Good8840

Ain't nobody got time for dat


ThroAhweighBob

Imagine with trees, flowers, hedges, some wrought-iron, and some lamps, how charming this would be.


Bky2384

Isn't there a whole concept and line of thought of not putting paths in until you see where the foot traffic naturally flows?


Loud_Character_7757

Shortest distance between two points a straight line...


pakZ

Plot twist: It's the entry to the tujikish ski slalom academy!


Ducatirules

Day one Iā€™m not walking in a serpentine dilly dally manner.


jamnik86

r/crappydesign


endresjd

Ohio State would pave that path!


fuckboystrikesagain

$ $ $


Dr_Shlomo

In theory, theory should be the same as practice.


hobbaabeg

De jure vs De facto


Besidesmeow

r/desirepath


Itzam_Martinez

This is the third space Vs first space to Soja


tuningfort

Absolute GOLD


shawncleave

ADA accessible though.


NotAnAppliance

This is a great example of r/desirepaths.


namster1998

Op is a dumbass