A walk after a meal, turning back at an intersection, and these thoughts came to mind.
How do you build a residential activity area so that it is suitable for walking? My answer is: Build a loop.
People who enjoy walking generally do not enjoy retracing their steps. If your path network is made of straight lines, unless the horizontal and vertical layout is sufficiently free (a completely unobstructed grid), walkers will usually be forced to retrace one or two segments, or even its entirety. When they reach the place where they should turn back, unless there is some activity at the destination that takes some time, they will be forced to consciously make the choice to turn around—this is a very awkward experience.
By introducing a loop, the need to turn around can be eliminated—people only need to naturally keep walking along the loop, and they can turn back to the direction from which they came. A loop also allows people to pass the time freely—as long as they want, they can keep walking along the loop without stopping. Ideally, every segment of the loop should be interesting enough.
The size of the loop should be appropriate. A loop that is too small cannot form the impression in people's minds that "this is a path suitable for walking", and it also makes people who walk in circles along it look silly. A loop that is too large makes it take too long to complete one circuit, and it cannot naturally become the spiritual symbol of the area it encloses—it will feel more like an outer ring road marking the boundary of this district. If your loop is larger than intended, but not truly large, you can consider introducing shortcuts that cut through it. Usually this creates some places where people can linger, such as plazas or small commercial streets.
The concept of the loop can also be abstracted and applied to other fields—any field that needs to manipulate human experience: for example, flow theory in game design is a methodology for creating the longest possible and most pleasurable game experience within limited mechanics.