Let me explain.

If you’ve ever walked between Piccadilly Train station and Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, you’ll have noticed that the lines on the pavement outside the station follow the curves of the building front.

This means that, although the shortest route from the station exit as you round Greggs is a straight line to the pedestrian crossing of Ducie Street, 99.999% of the people going to and from the station walk a longer route following the curved path of the pavement lines, even when in a rush.

Once you notice this, it seems like ridiculous behaviour. But it happens all the same!

The lines on the pavement seem to subconciously channel the flow of people. I wonder if there are any other deliberate or accidental designs in town planning that influence us.