> Landscapers sometimes accommodate desire paths by paving them, thereby integrating them into the official path network rather than blocking them.[…] Sometimes, land planners have deliberately left land fully or partially unpathed, waiting to see what desire paths are created, and then paving those.

from <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Desire_path&oldid...>

That's fascinating that it already had a term! The YC founder I used to work for was adamant that he came up with the term "idealized path" for this phenomenon.

Pathways is an urban open problem that companies like GoodMaps are trying to solve, although in a convoluted way (more sensors = more accuracy, but walled-garden is meh).