Re: Re: Pedestrain Shortcuts

I wonder if there isn’t a necessary element of discovery to the shortcut. First, you must obtain a certain familiarity with an area to know that A will reliably lead you to B. But then there comes that moment of discovery when you decide to wander down that particular alley and see that you can get from A to B in half the time. That’s a great moment and a necessary step in building your own city or town, that “badge of belonging” cstesiphon described. However, if all you’ve known all your life is the alley route, it may be a shortcut by definition but it probably won’t feel like one.

If some fella on tv tells me it’s a shortcut, somehow I feel I’ve been cheated of it. It’s his smarmy little shortcut, not mine, and suddenly I’m no longer interested in it.

Cities are built innumerable times: first, by the planners, then by the builders, and finally by the inhabitants who begin to learn the streets and make them their own. That’s what makes the idea of mapping shortcuts such an interesting one. Unless it’s a strict matter of “shortest possible route from A to B,” everyone’s map would look different.

e_houlihan, I’d be curious to see how you’re proceeding with the map.

And ctesiphon, that sounded to me like a dare… or at least an invitation!
“Oulipans: rats who build the labyrinth from which they plan to escape” — Raymond Queneau.