Maps are for People, Addresses are for Cars

If you want people to visit you, don’t give them your address; give them a map.

Addresses are for people going directly from point A to point B, without doing anything useful on the way: no side-errands, no socializing, no stopping to enjoy food or drink.

Maps are for people for whom physical space has meaning; if something interesting lies between their point of origin and their destination, they would damn well like to know about it.  And you can bet your hat that any place they stop at will see extra revenue, and every place they pass will be enlivened.

In the road vs street dichotomy, maps are for streets, addresses are for roads.

As a general rule, places that emphasize maps over addresses are highly walkable.

Maps (and pedestrian wayfinding signs) are ubiquitous in urban Japan:

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But they are also found in walkable parts of America, such as Old Pasadena:

Old Pasadena partial map

 

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