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An alley or alleyway is a narrow
The word alley is used in two main ways:
# It can refer to a narrow, usually paved, pedestrian path, often between the walls of buildings in towns and cities. This type is usually short and straight, and on steep ground can consist partially or entirely of steps.
# It also describes a very narrow, urban street, or lane, usually paved, which may be used by slow-moving local traffic, though more pedestrian-friendly than a regular street. There are two versions of this kind of alley:
#* A rear access or service road (
lane
In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in eac ...
, path
A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail.
Path or PATH may also refer to:
Physical paths of different types
* Bicycle path
* Bridle path, used by people on horseback
* Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle
* Desir ...
, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrian
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...
s, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane
The human back, also called the dorsum (: dorsa), is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral ...
), or a path, walk, or avenue (French allée
In landscaping, an avenue (from the French), alameda (from the Portuguese and Spanish), or allée (from the French), is a straight path or road with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each side, which is used, as its Latin source ' ...
) in a park or garden.
A covered alley or passageway, often with shops, may be called an arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game
** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware
** Arcad ...
. The origin of the word alley is late Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...
, from "walking or passage", from ' "to go", from "to walk".
Definition
The word alley is used in two main ways:
# It can refer to a narrow, usually paved, pedestrian path, often between the walls of buildings in towns and cities. This type is usually short and straight, and on steep ground can consist partially or entirely of steps.
# It also describes a very narrow, urban street, or lane, usually paved, which may be used by slow-moving local traffic, though more pedestrian-friendly than a regular street. There are two versions of this kind of alley:
#* A rear access or service road (back lane
The human back, also called the dorsum (: dorsa), is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral ...
), which can also sometimes act as part a secondary vehicular network. Many Americans and Canadians think of an alley in these terms first.
#* A narrow street running between houses or businesses. This type of alley is found in the older parts of many cities, including American cities like Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
and Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
(see Elfreth's Alley
Elfreth's Alley is a historic street in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, dating back to 1703. The street has 32 houses, built between 1703 and 1836. The Elfreth's Alley Museum is located at #124 and 126.Historical marker on Elfreth's ...
, Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
). Many are open to local traffic.
In landscaping
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following:
# Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal ...
, an ''allée'' or ''avenue'' is traditionally a straight route with a line of tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...
s or large shrub
A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...
s running along each side. In most cases, the trees planted in an avenue will be all of the same species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
or cultivar
A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
, so as to give uniform appearance along the full length of the avenue. The French term ''allée'' is used for avenues planted in parks and landscape gardens, as well as boulevard
A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district.
In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...
s such as the ''Grand Allée'' in Quebec City
Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
, Canada, and ''Karl-Marx-Allee
Karl-Marx-Allee () is a boulevard built by East Germany between 1952 and 1960 in Berlin Friedrichshain and Mitte. Today the boulevard is named after the German philosopher Karl Marx. It should not be confused with the Karl-Marx-Straße station ...
'' in Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
.
In older cities and towns in Europe, alleys are often what is left of a medieval street network, or a right of way
A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...
or ancient footpath
A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as Motor vehicle, motorized vehicles, bicycles and horseback, horses. They ...
. Similar paths also exist in some older North American towns and cities. In some older urban development in North America lanes at the rear of houses, to allow for deliveries and garbage collection, are called alleys. Alleys and ginnel
A ginnel is a word in various Scottish and northern English dialects describing a fenced or walled alley between residential buildings that provides a pedestrian shortcut to nearby streets.1875 Public Health Act in the
Arcades are another kind of covered passageway and the simplest kind are no more than alleys to which a glass roof was added later. Early examples of a shopping arcades include:
''
Hutongs represent an important cultural element of the city of Beijing and the hutongs are residential neighborhoods which still form the heart of Old Beijing. While most Beijing hutongs are straight, Jiudaowan (九道弯, literally "Nine Turns") Hutong turns nineteen times. At its narrowest section, Qianshi Hutong near
is a small area of
The ''traboules'' of
''Gränd'' is Swedish for an alley and there are numerous ''gränder'', or alleys in
* The Snickelways of York, in York, Yorkshire, often misspelt ''snickleways'', are a collection of small streets, footpaths, or lanes between buildings, not wide enough for a vehicle to pass down, and usually public Rights of way in England and Wales, rights of way. York has many such paths, mostly middle Ages, mediaeval, though there are some modern paths as well. They have names like any other city street, often quirky names such as Mad Alice Lane, Nether Hornpot Lane and even Finkle Street (formerly Mucky Peg Lane). The word ''snickelway'' was coined by local author Mark W. Jones in 1983 in his book ''A Walk Around the Snickelways of York'', and is a portmanteau, a blend of the words ''snicket'', meaning a passageway between walls or fences, ''
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, where usually alleys run along the back of streets of terraced houses, with ginnels connecting them to the street every fifth house. Alleys may be paved, or unpaved, and a blind alley is a cul-de-sac
A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet.
Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...
. Modern urban developments may also provide a service road to allow for waste collection, or rear access for fire engines
A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...
and parking
Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and usually leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is often permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the bu ...
.
Steps and stairs
Because of geography, steps (stairs
Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical direction, vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps wh ...
) are the predominant form of alley in hilly cities and towns. This includes Quebec City in Canada and in the United States Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
(see Steps of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh has nearly 800 sets of city-owned steps. Many steps parallel existing roads, but others exist on their own and are classified as city streets and are commonly referred to as "paper streets". Nearly two-thirds of the steps are in lo ...
), Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
(see Steps of Cincinnati
The city of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, owns roughly 400 sets of steps. The steps are an unusual and integral mode of transportation in the city. In addition to practical use, the steps offer recreational users exercise and serve as a scenic ...
), Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, and San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
as well as Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
and Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
.
Covered passages
Arcades are another kind of covered passageway and the simplest kind are no more than alleys to which a glass roof was added later. Early examples of a shopping arcades include: Palais Royal
The Palais-Royal () is a former French royal palace located on Rue Saint-Honoré in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was ...
in Paris (opened in 1784); Passage de Feydeau in Paris (opened in 1791). Most arcades differ from alleys in that they are architectural structures built with a commercial purpose and are a form of shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...
. All the same alleys have for long been associated with various types of businesses, especially pubs
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
and coffee houses
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...
. Bazaar
A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...
s and Souqs are an early form of arcade found in Asia and North Africa.
Some alleys are roofed because they are within buildings, such as the traboule
Traboules (from Latin ''transambulare'' via vulgar Latin ''trabulare'' meaning "to cross") are a type of secret covered passageways primarily associated with the city of Lyon, France, but also located in the French cities of Villefranche-sur-Sa ...
s of Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
, or when they are a pedestrian passage through railway embankments in Britain. The latter follow the line of rights-of way that existed before the railway was built.
The Burlington Arcade
Burlington Arcade is a covered shopping arcade in London, England, United Kingdom. It is long, parallel to and east of Bond Street from Piccadilly to Burlington Gardens. It is a precursor to the mid-19th-century European shopping gallery and ...
(1819) was one of London's earliest covered shopping arcades. It was the successful prototype for larger glazed shopping arcades, beginning with the Saint-Hubert Gallery (1847) in Brussels and The Passage
Passage, The Passage or Le Passage may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''Passage'' (2008 film), a documentary about Arctic explorers
* ''Passage'' (2009 film), a short movie about three sisters
* Passage (2020 film), a Canadian docume ...
(1848) in St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, the first of Europe's grand arcades, to the Galleria Umberto I
Galleria Umberto I is a public shopping gallery in Naples, southern Italy. It is located directly across from the San Carlo opera house. It was built between 1887 and 1890, and was the cornerstone in the decades-long rebuilding of Naples—called ...
(1891) in Naples, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (; ) is Italy's oldest active shopping arcade and a major landmark of Milan. Housed within a four-story double arcade in the centre of town, the ''Galleria'' is named after Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of ...
in Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
(1867), and the Block Arcade, Melbourne, Australia (1893).
By country
Asia
Alleyways are an understudied urban form historically shared by most Asian cities. They provide a setting for much everyday urban life and place-based identity, the examination of which can shed new light on the traditional idea of aglobal city
A global city (also known as a power city, world city, alpha city, or world center) is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network. The concept originates from geography and urban studies, based on the thesis that glo ...
and contributes to a renewed conception of metropolization as a highly localized process.
China
''Hutongs
''Hutong'' () are a type of narrow street or alley commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, especially Beijing.
In Beijing, ''hutongs'' are alleys formed by lines of ''siheyuan'', traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbourhoods ...
'' () are a type of narrow streets or alleys, commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, most prominently Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
.
In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of ''siheyuan
A ''siheyuan'' (; ɹ̩̂.xɤ̌.ɥɛ̂n is a traditional Chinese architectural style characterized by a courtyard enclosed by buildings on all four sides. This design was prevalent throughout China, notably in Beijing and rural Shanxi. Historic ...
'', traditional courtyard
A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky.
Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary a ...
residences. Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one ''siheyuan'' to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods.
During China's dynastic period, emperors
The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rule ...
planned the city of Beijing and arranged the residential areas according to the social classes of the Zhou dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...
(1027–256 BC). The term "hutong" appeared first during the Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
, and is a term of Mongolian
Mongolian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Mongolia, a country in Asia
* Mongolian people, or Mongols
* Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, the government of Mongolia, 1911–1919 and 1921–1924
* Mongolian language
* Mongolian alphabet
* ...
origin meaning "town".
At the turn of the 20th century, the Qing
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
court was disintegrating as China's dynastic era came to an end. The traditional arrangement of hutongs was also affected. Many new hutongs, built haphazardly and with no apparent plan, began to appear on the outskirts of the old city, while the old ones lost their former neat appearance.
Following the founding of the People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
in 1949, many of the old hutongs of Beijing disappeared, replaced by wide boulevards and high rises. Many residents left the lanes where their families lived for generations for apartment buildings with modern amenities. In Xicheng District
Xicheng () is a district of the city of Beijing. Its cover the western half of the old city (largely inside the 2nd Ring Road; the eastern half is Dongcheng District, Beijing, Dongcheng District), and has 1,106,214 inhabitants (2020 Census). It ...
, for example, nearly 200 hutongs out of the 820 it held in 1949 have disappeared. However, many of Beijing's ancient hutongs still stand, and a number of them have been designated protected areas. Many hutongs, some several hundred years old, in the vicinity of the Bell Tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...
and Drum Tower and Shichahai Lake are preserved amongst recreated contemporary two- and three-storey versions.
Hutongs represent an important cultural element of the city of Beijing and the hutongs are residential neighborhoods which still form the heart of Old Beijing. While most Beijing hutongs are straight, Jiudaowan (九道弯, literally "Nine Turns") Hutong turns nineteen times. At its narrowest section, Qianshi Hutong near Qianmen
Qianmen () is the colloquial name for Zhengyangmen (; Manchu: ; Möllendorff:tob šun-i duka, ), a gate in Beijing's historic city wall. The gate is situated to the south of Tiananmen Square and once guarded the southern entry into the Inner Cit ...
(Front Gate) is only 40 centimeters (16 inches) wide.
The Shanghai longtang
A longtang (, Shanghainese: , Wugniu: ''lon⁶-daon⁶'') is a lane in Shanghai and, by extension, a community centred on a lane or several interconnected lanes. It is sometimes called lilong (); the latter name incorporates the ''-li'' suffi ...
is loosely equivalent to the hutong
''Hutong'' () are a type of narrow street or alley commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, especially Beijing.
In Beijing, ''hutongs'' are alleys formed by lines of '' siheyuan'', traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbourhood ...
of Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
. A longtang (弄堂 ''lòngtáng'', Shanghainese
The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the city of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan langua ...
: ''longdang'') is a laneway in Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
and, by extension, a community centred on a laneway or several interconnected laneways. On its own long (traditional Chinese 衖 or 弄, simplified Chinese 弄) is a Chinese term for "alley" or "lane", which is often left untranslated in Chinese addresses, but may also be translated as "lane", and "tang" is a parlor or hallway. It is sometimes called lilong (里弄); the latter name incorporates the ''-li'' suffix often used in the name of residential developments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As with the term hutong, the Shanghai longdang can either refers to the lanes that the houses face onto, or a group of houses connected by the lane.
Japan
is a small area of Shinjuku
, officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropol ...
, Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, famous both as an area of architectural interest and for its nightlife. It is composed of a network of six narrow alleys, connected by even narrower passageways which are just about wide enough for a single person to pass through. Over 200 tiny shanty-style bars, clubs and eateries are squeezed into this area.
Its architectural importance is that it provides a view into the relatively recent past of Tokyo, when large parts of the city resembled present-day Golden Gai, particularly in terms of the extremely narrow lanes and the tiny two-storey buildings. Nowadays, most of the surrounding area has been redeveloped. Typically, the buildings are just a few feet wide and are built so close to the ones next door that they nearly touch. Most are two-storey, having a small bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
** Chocolate bar
* Protein bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...
at street level and either another bar or a tiny flat upstairs, reached by a steep set of stairs. None of the bars are very large; some are so small that they can only fit five or so customers at one time. The buildings are generally ramshackle, and the alleys are dimly lit, giving the area a very scruffy and run-down appearance. However, Golden Gai is not a cheap place to drink, and the clientele that it attracts is generally well off.
Golden Gai is well known yokocho and meeting place for musicians, artists, directors, writers, academics and actors, including many celebrities. Many of the bars only welcome regular customers, who initially should be introduced by an existing patron, although many others welcome non-regulars, some even making efforts to attract overseas tourists by displaying signs and price lists in English. Golden Gai was known for prostitution before 1958, when prostitution became illegal. Since then it has developed as a drinking area, and at least some of the bars can trace their origins back to the 1960s.
Apart from drinking alleys (drinking yokocho), shotengai and yokocho shotengais, there are the ordinary alleyways, the rojis which seem exist in all parts of the Japanese urban landscape. The roji which was once part of people's personal spatial sphere and everyday life has been transformed by diverse and competing interests. Marginalised through the emergence of new forms of housing and public spaces, re-appropriated by different fields, and re-invented by the contemporary urban design discourse, the social meaning attached to the roji is being re-interpreted by individuals, subcultures and new social movements. Thus, their existence is in danger.
Vietnam
Hẻm/Ngõ alleyways are a Vietnamesevernacular
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
urban planning typology, common in Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025.
The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
and Hanoi
Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...
.
Australia
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
features a series of laneways in its central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...
that have been used to provide off-street vehicular access to city buildings and alternative pedestrian routes through city blocks
A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design.
In a city with a grid system, the block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are th ...
, in addition to featuring street art
Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art.
Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant gr ...
, cafes, restaurants, bars and retail outlets. The Rocks has the most prominent and historical laneways in Sydney, which date to the 19th century. '' Forgotten Songs'' is a popular attraction situated in Angel Place. Chinatown
Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...
features a number of lanes and alleyways. In suburban Sydney, several alleyways or laneways exist between residential lots that provide pedestrians a shortcut passage to nearby facilities on adjacent roads.
The Melbourne central business district
The Melbourne central business district (colloquially known as "the City" or "the CBD", and gazetted simply as Melbourne) is the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. As of the 2021 census, the CBD had a population of 54,941, and is ...
in is home to many lanes and arcades. These laneways date mostly from the Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
, and are a popular cultural attraction for their cafes, bars and street art. The city's oldest laneways are a result of Melbourne's original urban plan, the 1837 Hoddle Grid
The Hoddle Grid is the contemporary name given to the approximately grid of streets that form the Melbourne central business district, Australia. Bounded by Flinders Street, Spring Street, La Trobe Street, and Spencer Street, it lies at a ...
, and were designed as access routes to service properties fronting the CBD's major thoroughfares. St Jerome's Laneway Festival
The St. Jerome's Laneway Festival, commonly referred to as Laneway, began in Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday, February 27, 2005. Beginning as predominantly an indie music event, the festival grew in popularity and expanded to ...
, often referred to simply as Laneway, is a popular music festival that began in 2004 in Melbourne's laneways.
The lanes and arcades of Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, Western Australia are together becoming culturally significant to the city. In 2007 modification to Liquor Licensing Regulations in Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
opened up the opportunities for small bars. This was followed in August 2008 by the City of Perth
The City of Perth is a local government areas of Western Australia, local government area and body, within the Perth metropolitan area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government is commonly known as Perth City Council. T ...
formally adopting a laneways enhancement strategy, "Forgotten Spaces – Revitalising Perth's Laneways".
Europe
Belgium
InBelgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
the equivalent term is ''gang'' (Dutch) or ''impasse'' (French). Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
had over 100 ''gangen/impasses'', built to provide pedestrian access to cheap housing in the middle of blocks of buildings, and often containing a communal water tap. Several lead off Rue Haute/Hoogstraat. Since 1858, many have been demolished as part of slum clearance
Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
programmes, but about 70 still exist.''Impasses de Bruxelles'', Lucia Gaiardo, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale-Ville de Bruxelles, 2000 Some have been gentrified, for example the Rue de la Cigogne/Ooievaarstraat.
Germany
The old town ofLübeck
Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
has over 100 '' Gänge'', particularly leading off the streets Engelswisch, Engelsgrube and Glockengießerstraße, as well as around the cathedral. Some are very low as well as narrow, and others open into more spacious courtyards (''Höfe'').
''Spreuerhofstraße
Spreuerhofstraße is, according to ''Guinness World Records'', the world's narrowest street, found in the city of Reutlingen, Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the ...
'' is the world's narrowest street
A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...
, found in the city of Reutlingen
Reutlingen (; ) is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous Reutlingen (district), district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it had an estimated population of 116,456. Reutlingen has a Reutlingen University, univ ...
, Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...
, Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It ranges from at its narrowest to at its widest. The lane was built in 1727 during the reconstruction efforts after the area was completely destroyed in the massive citywide fire of 1726 and is officially listed in the Land-Registry Office as City Street Number 77.
Lintgasse is an alley () in the Old town
In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...
of Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
, Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
between the two squares of ''Alter Markt'' and ''Fischmarkt''. It is a pedestrian zone
Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...
and though only some 130 metres long, is nevertheless famous for its medieval history. The Lintgasse was first mentioned in the 12th century as ''in Lintgazzin'', which may be derived from basketmakers who wove fish baskets out of Linden tree
''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Great Bri ...
barks. These craftsmen were called ''Lindslizer'', meaning ''Linden splitter''. During the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, the area was also known as ''platēa subri'' or ''platēa suberis'', meaning street of ''Quercus suber
''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the core ...
'', the cork oak tree. Lintgasse 8 to 14 used to be homes of medieval knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
s as still can be seen by signs like ''Zum Huynen'', ''Zum Ritter'' or ''Zum Gir''. During the 19th-century the Lintgasse was called ''Stink-Linkgaß'', a because of its poor air quality.
France
= Lyon's traboules
=
The ''traboules'' of Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
are passageways that cut through a house or, in some cases, a whole city block, linking one street with another. They are distinct from most other alleys in that they are mainly enclosed within buildings and may include staircases. While they are found in other French cities including Villefranche-sur-Saône
Villefranche-sur-Saône (, ; ) is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France.
It lies 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the river Saône, and is around north of Lyon. The inhabitants of the town are called ''Caladois''.
History
Villefran ...
, Mâcon
Mâcon (), historically Anglicization, anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home t ...
, Chambéry
Chambéry (, , ; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the southeastern ...
, Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...
, Louhans
Louhans () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.
, Chalon sur Saône
Chalon may refer to:
Culture
*Chalon people, a Native American tribe of California
*Chalon language, an Ohlone language spoken by the Chalon people
Places
*Chalon, Isère, formerly Châlons, in France's Isère ''département''
*Le Chalon, in th ...
and Vienne (Isère) Vienne may refer to:
Places
*Vienne (department), a department of France named after the river Vienne
*Vienne, Isère, a city in the French department of Isère
* Vienne-en-Arthies, a village in the French department of Val-d'Oise
* Vienne-en-Bessi ...
, Lyon has many more; in all there are about 500.
The word ''traboule'' comes from the Latin ''trans ambulare'', meaning "to cross", and the first of them were possibly built as early as the 4th century. As the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
disintegrated, the residents of early Lyon—Lugdunum
Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Colonia (Roman), Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon, France, Lyon.
The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but cont ...
, the capital of Roman Gaul
Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...
—were forced to move from the Fourvière hill to the banks of the river Saône when their aqueducts began to fail. The traboules grew up alongside their new homes, linking the streets that run parallel to the river Saône
The Saône ( , ; ; ) is a river in eastern France (modern Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department an ...
and going down to the river itself. For centuries they were used by people to fetch water from the river and then by craftsmen and traders to transport their goods. By the 18th century they were invaluable to what had become the city's defining industry, textiles, especially silk.
Nowadays, traboules are tourist attractions, and many are free and open to the public. Most traboules are on private property, serving as entrances to local apartments.
Italy
The common Italian word for an alley is ''vicolo''.= Venice
= Venice is largely a traffic free city and there is, in addition to the canals, a maze of around 3000 lanes and alleys called ''calli'' (which means narrow). Smaller ones are ''callètte'' or ''callesèlle'', while larger ones are ''calli large''. Their width varies from just over to . The narrowest is Calletta Varisco, which just ; Calle Stretta is wide and Calle Ca' Zusto . The main ones are also called ''salizada'' and wider ''calli'', where trade proliferates, are called ''riga'', while blind ''calli'', used only by residents to reach their homes, are ''ramo''.Netherlands
Cities such asAmsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
and Groningen
Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...
have numerous ''gangen'' or ''stegen''. They often run between the major streets, roughly parallel to each other but not at right angles to the streets, following the old field boundaries and ditches.
Sweden
''Gränd'' is Swedish for an alley and there are numerous ''gränder'', or alleys in Gamla stan
Gamla Stan (, "The Old Town"), until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna ("The Town between the Bridges"), is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla Stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Gamla Stan includes the surrounding islets ...
, The Old Town, of Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
, Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. The town dates back to the 13th century, with medieval alleyways, Cobblestone, cobbled streets, and historic buildings. Brick Gothic, North German architecture has had a strong influence in the Old Town's buildings. Some of Stockholm's alleys are very narrow pedestrian footpaths, while others are very narrow, cobbled streets, or lanes open to slow moving traffic.
Mårten Trotzigs gränd ("Alley of Mårten Trotzig") runs from Västerlånggatan and Järntorget (Stockholm), Järntorget up to Prästgatan and Tyska Stallplan, and part of it consists of 36 steps. At its narrowest the alley is a mere 90 cm (35 inches) wide, making it the narrowest street in Stockholm.Stahre, Nils-Gustaf; Fogelström, Per Anders & Ferenius, Jonas & Lundqvist, Gunnar (2005) [1986]. Stockholms gatunamn (utgåva 3:e upplagan). Stockholm: Stockholmia förlag. Libris 10013848. .
The alley is named after the merchant and Bourgeoisie, burgher Mårten Trotzig (1559–1617), who, born in Wittenberg, emigrated to Stockholm in 1581, and bought properties in the alley in 1597 and 1599, also opening a shop there. According to sources from the late 16th century, he was dealing in first iron and later copper, by 1595 had sworn his burgher oath, and was later to become one of the richest merchants in Stockholm.
Possibly referred to as Trångsund (Stockholm), Trångsund ("Narrow strait") before Mårten Trotzig gave his name to the alley, it is mentioned in 1544 as ''Tronge trappe grenden'' ("Narrow Alley Stairs"). In 1608 it is referred to ''Trappegrenden'' ("The Stairs Alley"), but a map dated 1733 calls it ''Trotz gränd''. Closed off in the mid 19th century, not to be reopened until 1945, its present name was officially sanctioned by the city in 1949.
The "List of streets and squares in Gamla stan" provides links to many pages that describe other alleys in the oldest part of Stockholm; e.g. Kolmätargränd (Coal Meter's Alley); Skeppar Karls Gränd (Skipper Karl's Alley); Skeppar Olofs Gränd (Skipper Olof's Alley); and Helga Lekamens Gränd (Alley of the Holy Body).
United Kingdom
= London
= London has numerous historical alleys, especially, but not exclusively, in its centre; this includes The City of London, The City, Covent Garden, Holborn, Clerkenwell, Westminster and Bloomsbury amongst others. An alley in London can also be called a passage, court, place, lane, and less commonly path,arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game
** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware
** Arcad ...
, walk, stairs, steps, yard, terrace, and close. While both a court and close are usually defined as blind alleys, or ''cul-de-sacs'', several in London are throughways, for example Cavendish Court, a narrow passage leading from Houndsditch into Devonshire Square, and Angel Court, which links King Street and Pall Mall, London, Pall Mall. Bartholomew Close is a narrow winding lane which can be called an alley by virtue of its narrowness, and because through-access requires the use of passages and courts between Little Britain, and Long Lane and Aldersgate Street.
In an old neighbourhood of the City of London, Exchange Alley or Change Alley is a narrow alleyway connecting shops and coffeehouses. It served as a convenient shortcut from the Royal Exchange, London, Royal Exchange on Cornhill, London, Cornhill to the Post Office on Lombard Street, London, Lombard Street and remains as one of a number of alleys linking the two streets. The coffeehouses of Exchange Alley, especially Jonathan's Coffee-House, Jonathan's and Garraway's, became an early venue for the lively trading of Share (finance), shares and Commodity, commodities. These activities were the progenitor of the modern London Stock Exchange.
Lombard Street and Change Alley had been the open-air meeting place of London's mercantile community before Thomas Gresham founded the Royal Exchange in 1565. In 1698, John Castaing began publishing the prices of stocks and commodities in Jonathan's Coffeehouse, providing the first evidence of systematic exchange of securities in London.
Change Alley was the site of some noteworthy events in England's financial history, including the South Sea Bubble from 1711 to 1720 and the panic of 1745.
In 1761 a club of 150 brokers and jobbers was formed to trade stocks. The club built its own building in nearby Sweeting's Alley in 1773, dubbed the "New Jonathan's", later renamed the London Stock Exchange plc, Stock Exchange.
West of the City there are a number of alleys just north of Trafalgar Square, including Brydges Place which is situated right next to the Coliseum Theatre and just 15 inches wide at its narrowest point, only one person can walk down it at a time. It is the narrowest alley in London and runs for , connecting St Martin's Lane with Bedfordbury in Covent Garden.
Close by is another very narrow passage, Lazenby Court, which runs from Rose Street to Floral Street down the side of the Lamb and Flag, Covent Garden, Lamb and Flag pub; in order to pass people must turn slightly sideways. The Lamb & Flag in Rose Street has a reputation as the oldest pub in the area, though records are not clear. The first mention of a pub on the site is 1772. The Lazenby Court was the scene of an attack on the famous poet and playwright John Dryden in 1679 by thugs hired by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, with whom he had a long-standing conflict.
In the same neighbourhood Cecil Court has an entirely different character than the two previous alleys, and is a spacious pedestrian street with Victorian era, Victorian shop-frontages that links Charing Cross Road with St Martin's Lane, and it is sometimes used as a location by film companies.
One of the older thoroughfares in Covent Garden, Cecil Court dates back to the end of the 17th century. A tradesman's route at its inception, it later acquired the nickname Flicker Alley because of the concentration of early film companies in the Court. The first film-related company arrived in Cecil Court in 1897, a year after the first demonstration of moving pictures in the United Kingdom and a decade before London's first purpose-built cinema opened its doors. Since the 1930s it has been known as the new Booksellers' Row as it is home to nearly twenty antiquarian and second-hand independent bookshops.
It was the temporary home of an eight-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart while Mozart family grand tour, he was touring Europe in 1764. For almost four months the Mozart family lodged with barber John Couzin. According to some modern authorities, Mozart composed his first symphony while a resident of Cecil Court.
North of the centre of London, Camden Passage is a pedestrian passage off Upper Street in the London Borough of Islington, famous because of its many antiques shops, and an antique market on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings. It was built, as an alley, along the backs of houses on Upper Street, then Islington High Street, in 1767.
= Southern England
= * In East Sussex, West Sussex and Surrey, ''twitten'' is used, for "a narrow path between two walls or hedges". It is still in official use in some towns including Lewes, Brighton, and Cuckfield. "Loughton also has twittens, the only Essex example of use of the word and an indication of a very old street pattern"; Loughton also has a track known locally as ''The Widden'', a variant of twitten. In north-west Essex and east Hertfordshire ''twichell'' is common. In other parts of Essex, alley or path is used. * In the city of Brighton and Hove (in East Sussex), The Lanes is a collection of narrow lanes famous for their small shops (including several antique shops) and narrow alleyways. The area was part of the original settlement of Brighthelmstone, but The Lanes were built up during the late 18th century and were fully laid out by 1792.= West of England
= * In Plymouth, Devon an alley is an ''ope''. * More generally in Devon any narrow public way which is less commodious than a lane may be called a ''drangway'' (from ''drang'', as a dialectal variation of throng); typically it will be used on horseback or on foot with or without animals, but may also be for occasional use with vehicles. The word, according to David Crystal, is also used throughout the West of England, Wiltshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, as well as Wales.= Midlands and East Anglia
= * In Birmingham an ''entry'' runs between houses or through terraced houses, while a ''gully'' runs behind houses. * In Derbyshire and Leicestershire the word ''jitty'' or ''gitties'' is often found and ''gulley'' is a term used in the Black Country. * In Nottinghamshire, ''twichell'' is common (See East Midlands English). * In Shropshire (especially Shrewsbury) they are called ''shuts''.= Northern England
=
* The Snickelways of York, in York, Yorkshire, often misspelt ''snickleways'', are a collection of small streets, footpaths, or lanes between buildings, not wide enough for a vehicle to pass down, and usually public Rights of way in England and Wales, rights of way. York has many such paths, mostly middle Ages, mediaeval, though there are some modern paths as well. They have names like any other city street, often quirky names such as Mad Alice Lane, Nether Hornpot Lane and even Finkle Street (formerly Mucky Peg Lane). The word ''snickelway'' was coined by local author Mark W. Jones in 1983 in his book ''A Walk Around the Snickelways of York'', and is a portmanteau, a blend of the words ''snicket'', meaning a passageway between walls or fences, ''ginnel
A ginnel is a word in various Scottish and northern English dialects describing a fenced or walled alley between residential buildings that provides a pedestrian shortcut to nearby streets.
In Scotland and Northern Ireland the Scots language, Scots terms List of Closes on the Royal Mile, close, wynd, pend and vennel are general in most towns and cities. The term ''close'' has an unvoiced "s" as in ''sad''. The Scottish author Ian Rankin's novel ''Fleshmarket Close'' was retitled ''Fleshmarket Alley'' for the American market. Close is the generic Scots term for alleyways, although they may be individually named closes, entries, courts and wynds. Originally, a close was private property, hence gated and closed to the public.
A wynd is typically a narrow lane between houses, an open throughway, usually wide enough for a horse and cart. The word derives from Old Norse ''venda'', implying a turning off a main street, without implying that it is curved. In fact, most wynds are straight. In many places wynds link streets at different heights and thus are mostly thought of as being ways up or down hills.
A pend is a passageway that passes through a building, often from a street through to a
A medina quarter ( "the old city") is a distinct city section found in many North African cities. The medina is typically walled, contains many narrow and maze-like streets. The word "wikt:medina, medina" ( ) itself simply means "city" or "town" in modern Arabic.
Because of the very narrow streets, medinas are generally free from car traffic, and in some cases even motorcycle and bicycle traffic. The streets can be less than a metre wide. This makes them unique among highly populated urban centres. The Medina of Fes, Morocco or Fes el Bali, is considered one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world.
Fan Tan Alley is an alley in Victoria, British Columbia's Chinatown, Victoria, Chinatown. It was originally a gambling district with restaurants, shops, and opium dens. Today it is a tourist destination with many small shops including a barber shop, art gallery, Chinese cafe and apartments. It may well be the narrowest street in Canada. At its narrowest point it is only wide. Waddington Alley is another interesting alley in Victoria and the only street in that city still paved with wood blocks, an early pavement common in the downtown core. Other heritage features are buildings more than a century old lining the alley and a rare metal carriage curb that edges the sidewalk on the southern end.
New York City's Manhattan is unusual in that it has very few alleys, since the Commissioner's Plan of 1811 did not include rear service alleys when it created Manhattan's grid. The exclusion of alleys has been criticized as a flaw in the plan, since services such as garbage pickup cannot be provided out of sight of the public, although other commentators feel that the lack of alleys is a benefit to the quality of life of the city. Since there are so few alleys in New York, film location shooting requiring alleys tend to be concentrated in Cortlandt Alley, located between Canal Street (Manhattan), Canal and Franklin Streets in the blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Lafayette Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
Two notable alleys in the Greenwich Village neighborhood in Manhattan are MacDougal Street, MacDougal Alley and Washington Mews. The latter is a blind alley or ''cul-de-sac''. Greenwich Village also has a number of private alleys that lead to back houses, which can only be accessed by residents, including Grove Court, Patchin Place and Milligan Place, all blind alleys. Patchin Place is notable for the writers who lived there. In the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, Grace Court Alley is another converted mews, as is Dennett Place in the Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens neighborhood. The former is a ''cul-de-sac''.
Shubert Alley is a long pedestrian alley at the heart of the Broadway theatre, Broadway theater district of New York City. The alley was originally created as a fire exit between the Shubert Theatre (Broadway), Shubert Theatre on West 45th Street and the Booth Theatre on West 44th Street, and the Astor Hotel to their east. Actors once gathered in the alley, hoping to attract the attention of the Shubert Brothers and get employment in their theatrical productions. When the hotel was torn down, and replaced with One Astor Plaza (1515 Broadway), the apparent width of the alley increased, as the new building did not go all the way to the westernmost edge of the building lot. However, officially, Shubert Alley consists only of the space between the two theatres and the lot line.
In hilly
Numerous cities in the United States and Canada, such as Chicago,
on the District of Columbia Department of Transportation website Chicago, Illinois has about of alleyways. In 2006, the Chicago Department of Transportation started converting conventional alleys which were paved with Asphalt concrete, asphalt into so called Green Alleys. This program, called the Green Alley Program, is supposed to enable easier water runoff, as the alleyways in Chicago are not connected directly to the sewer system. With this program, the water will be able to seep through semi-permeable concrete or Asphalt concrete, asphalt in which a colony of fungi and bacteria will establish itself. The bacteria will help breakup oils before the water is absorbed into the ground. The lighter color of the pavement will also reflect more light, making the area next to the alley cooler. The greening of such alleys or laneways can also involve the planting of native plants to further absorb rain water and moderate temperature. In 2002, a group of Baltimore residents from the Patterson Park neighborhood approached the Patterson Park Community Development Corporation (CDC) looking for a way to improve the dirty, crime-ridden alley that ran behind their homes. Simultaneously, Community Greens also approached the Patterson Park CDC looking for an alley they could use as a pilot project in Baltimore. This led The Luzerne-Glover block being granted a temporary permit from the city to gate their alleyway, despite the fact that it was not yet legal to gate a Right-of-way (property access), right-of-way. Eventually the law was changed so that Baltimore residents could legally gate and green the alleys behind their homes. New life has also come to other alleys within downtown commercial districts of various cities throughout the world with the opening of businesses, such as coffee houses, shops, restaurants and bars. Another way that alleys and laneways are being revitalized is through laneway housing. A laneway house is a form of housing that has been proposed on the west coast of Canada, especially in the Greater Vancouver, Metro Vancouver area. These homes are typically built into pre-existing land lot, lots, usually in the backyard and opening onto the back lane. This form of housing already exists in Vancouver, and revised regulations now encourage new developments as part of a plan to increase urban density in pre-existing neighbourhoods while retaining a single-family feel to the area. Vancouver's average laneway house is one and a half stories, with one or two bedrooms. Typical regulations require that the laneway home is built on the back half of a traditional lot in the space normally reserved for a garage."Livable Lanes: A Study of Infill Laneway Housing in Vancouver and Other B.C. Communities"
on the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation website (November 2009) Toronto also has a tradition of laneway housing and changed regulations to encourage new development. However this was discontinued in 2006 after staff reviewed the impact on services and safety.
File:Alley in Fira.jpg, An alley in Fira, Santorini, Greece
File:Howey place melbourne.jpg, Howey Place, Melbourne, Australia
File:HaGay street IMG 6804.JPG, Hagay Street, Old City (Jerusalem)
File:Porto (21040325420).jpg, Rua Sobre-o-Douro, Porto, Portugal
File:Peg Washington's Lane, Graiguenamanagh, Co.Kilkenny - geograph.org.uk - 213437.jpg, Peg Washington's Lane, Graiguenamanagh, County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland
File:Jamestown Jacobs Ladder.jpg, View down Jacob's Ladder (Saint Helena), Jacob's Ladder, Saint Helena
File:Ayda alley, Aleppo Christian Quarter (01).jpg, Al-Yasmeen alley in al-Jdayde, Aleppo, Syria
File:CentrePlace-rain.jpg, Centre Place, Melbourne, Centre Place in Melbourne
File:Medina Tripoli Libya.jpg, Medina Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli, Libya
File:2006 Выборгский замок-крепость Южный корпус DSC02230.jpg, A narrow alley of the Vyborg Castle in Vyborg, Russia
File:Orvieto-Street2.jpg, A narrow Vicolo, Orvieto, Umbria, Italy
File:Schnoor-Bremen.jpg, Schnoor neighbourhood in Bremen,
Hage, Sara A., ''Alleys: Negotiating Identity in Traditional, Urban, and New Urban Communities''. M.A. Thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2008.
* Long, David, ''Hidden City: The Secret Alleys, Courts & Yards of London's Square Mile''. London: The History Press, 2011. * Regan, Bob, ''The Steps of Pittsburgh: Portrait of a City''. Pittsburgh, PA.: The Local History Company, 2004. *
= Scotland and Northern Ireland
=
In Scotland and Northern Ireland the Scots language, Scots terms List of Closes on the Royal Mile, close, wynd, pend and vennel are general in most towns and cities. The term ''close'' has an unvoiced "s" as in ''sad''. The Scottish author Ian Rankin's novel ''Fleshmarket Close'' was retitled ''Fleshmarket Alley'' for the American market. Close is the generic Scots term for alleyways, although they may be individually named closes, entries, courts and wynds. Originally, a close was private property, hence gated and closed to the public.
A wynd is typically a narrow lane between houses, an open throughway, usually wide enough for a horse and cart. The word derives from Old Norse ''venda'', implying a turning off a main street, without implying that it is curved. In fact, most wynds are straight. In many places wynds link streets at different heights and thus are mostly thought of as being ways up or down hills.
A pend is a passageway that passes through a building, often from a street through to a courtyard
A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky.
Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary a ...
, and typically designed for vehicular rather than exclusively pedestrian access. A pend is distinct from a vennel or a close, as it has rooms directly above it, whereas vennels and closes are not covered over.
A vennel is a passageway between the gables of two buildings which can in effect be a minor street in Scotland and the North east England, north east of England, particularly in the old centre of Durham, England, Durham. In Scotland, the term originated in royal burghs created in the twelfth century, the word deriving from the Old French word ''venelle'' meaning "alley" or "lane". Unlike a tenement entry to private property, known as a ''close'', a vennel was a public way leading from a typical high street to the open ground beyond the burgage plots. The Latin form is ''venella''.
North Africa
A medina quarter ( "the old city") is a distinct city section found in many North African cities. The medina is typically walled, contains many narrow and maze-like streets. The word "wikt:medina, medina" ( ) itself simply means "city" or "town" in modern Arabic.
Because of the very narrow streets, medinas are generally free from car traffic, and in some cases even motorcycle and bicycle traffic. The streets can be less than a metre wide. This makes them unique among highly populated urban centres. The Medina of Fes, Morocco or Fes el Bali, is considered one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world.
North America
Narrow European-style passage ways or alleys are rare in North America, where generally streets are wider and primarily designed for motorized traffic. In North America the word alley is primarily used for service lanes that provide a space for utility poles, fire escapes, garage access, delivery loading zones, and garbage bin pickup. They are often also associated with criminal activity. However, some narrow alleys are found in historic parts of older American and Canadian cities, like New York City,Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Charleston, South Carolina, Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, Annapolis, New Castle, Delaware, Quebec City
Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
, St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, St John's, Newfoundland, and Victoria, British Columbia.
Canada
= Quebec City
= Québec City was originally built on the riverside bluff Cap Diamant in the 17th century, and throughout Quebec City there are strategically placed public Stairs, stairways that link the bluff to the lower parts of the city. The Upper City is the site of Old Québec's most significant historical sites, including 17th- and 18th-century chapels, the Citadel and the city ramparts. The Breakneck Stairs or Breakneck Steps (French: ''Escalier casse-cou''), Quebec City's oldest stairway, were built in 1635. Originally called ''escalier Champlain'' "Champlain Stairs", ''escalier du Quêteux'' "Beggars' Stairs", or ''escalier de la Basse-Ville'' "Lower Town Stairs", they were given their current name in the mid-19th century, because of their steepness. The stairs have been restored several times, including an 1889 renovation by Charles Baillargé.= Victoria
=
Fan Tan Alley is an alley in Victoria, British Columbia's Chinatown, Victoria, Chinatown. It was originally a gambling district with restaurants, shops, and opium dens. Today it is a tourist destination with many small shops including a barber shop, art gallery, Chinese cafe and apartments. It may well be the narrowest street in Canada. At its narrowest point it is only wide. Waddington Alley is another interesting alley in Victoria and the only street in that city still paved with wood blocks, an early pavement common in the downtown core. Other heritage features are buildings more than a century old lining the alley and a rare metal carriage curb that edges the sidewalk on the southern end.
= Vancouver
= Nearly all blocks in Vancouver were designed with an alleyway, as the majority of homes do not have front driveways. Alleyways are, therefore, the way for home owners to access their garage and to also place their garbage for collection. Commercial laneway typically prohibit stopping except for delivery vehicles.United States
Most streets in America are "oriented around the movement of cars". A major reason "is that most American streets—both historic and modern—are very wide, at least compared to streets of historic European towns and cities". For a fuller explanation, see Andres Duany, co-author of ''Suburban Nation'', and James Kunstler, ''The Geography of Nowhere''. In the United States alleys exist in both older commercial and residential areas, for both service purposes and automobile access. In residential areas, particularly in those that were built before 1950, alleys provide rear access to property where a garage was located, or where waste could be collected by service vehicles. A benefit of this was the location of these activities to the rear, less public side of a dwelling. Such alleys are generally roughly paved, but some may be dirt. From the end of the nineteenth century, "because infrastructural innovations", they were often not included with new homes.= Annapolis, Maryland
= When Annapolis, Maryland, was established as a city at the beginning of the 18th century, the streets were established in circles. That encouraged the creation of shortcuts, which over time became paved alleys. Some ten of these survive, and the city has recently worked on making them more attractive.= Austin, Texas
= Several residential neighborhoods in Austin, Texas, have comprehensive alley systems. These include Hyde Park Historic District (Austin, Texas), Hyde Park, Rosedale, Austin, Texas, Rosedale, and areas northwest of the Austin State Hospital. There are also numerous alleys downtown, particularly in the Sixth Street (Austin, Texas), 6th Street district, where bars and restaurants place their garbage for collection.= Boston
= In the Beacon Hill, Boston, Beacon Hill district ofBoston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, Massachusetts, Acorn Street, a narrow cobbled lane with row houses, is one of Boston's more attractive and historic alleys. Many of the alleys in the Back Bay and South End area are numbered (e.g. "Public Alley 438").
= Charleston, South Carolina
= In the French Quarter (Charleston, South Carolina), French Quarter of Charleston's historic district, Philadelphia Alley (c. 1766), originally named "Cow Alley", is one of several picturesque alleys. In 1810 William Johnson gave it the name of "Philadelphia Alley", although locals call the "elegantly landscaped thoroughfare" "Dueler's Alley". Starting on East Bay Street, Stolls Alley is just seventeen bricks wide at its start, and named for Justinus Stoll, an 18th-century blacksmith. For three hundred years, another of Charleston's narrow lanes, Lodge Alley, served a commercial purpose. Originally, French Huguenot merchants built homes on it, along with warehouses to store supplies for their ships. Just wide, this alley was a useful means of access to Charleston's waterways. Today it leads to East Bay Street's many restaurants.= Chicago, Illinois
= Chicago has the largest network of alleys in the United States, with more than 1,900 miles of alleyways within city limits, also ranking as one of the largest systems in the world. Alleys have been an integral part of Chicago's urban landscape since the city was first incorporated, and have grown in complexity since the 1830s, with many of the city's elevated "L" transit rail lines still running overhead today. Although initially considered seedy and uncivilized, the utilitarian nature of alleys has afforded Chicago the ability to keep main roads and thoroughfares clear of trash, unlike other large cities in the country, while also providing additional space for residential and commercial car parking, as well as maintaining accessible electrical and plumbing utilities, both above and below ground. In 2006, the Chicago Department of Transportation began implementing the "Green Alley" program, an ongoing effort to replace hardtop alley surfaces with permeable pavers and better grading to more quickly absorb storm water runoff into the groundwater below, reducing stress on the city's infrastructure, as well as introducing lighter colored "high albedo" pavement to reflect sunlight and reduce urban heat island effect.= Cincinnati, Ohio
= Cincinnati is a city of hills. Before the advent of the automobile a system of stairway alleys provided pedestrians important and convenient access to and from their hill top homes. At the height of their use in the 19th century, over of hill side steps once connected the List of Cincinnati neighborhoods, neighborhoods of Cincinnati to each other. The first steps were installed by residents of Mount Auburn Historic District, Mount Auburn in the 1830s in order to gain easier access to Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine. In recent years many steps have fallen into disrepair but there is a movement now to rehabilitate them.= New Castle, Delaware
= Another early settled American city, New Castle, Delaware, New Castle has a number of interesting alleys, some of which are footpaths and others narrow, sometimes cobbled, lanes open to traffic.= New York City
=
New York City's Manhattan is unusual in that it has very few alleys, since the Commissioner's Plan of 1811 did not include rear service alleys when it created Manhattan's grid. The exclusion of alleys has been criticized as a flaw in the plan, since services such as garbage pickup cannot be provided out of sight of the public, although other commentators feel that the lack of alleys is a benefit to the quality of life of the city. Since there are so few alleys in New York, film location shooting requiring alleys tend to be concentrated in Cortlandt Alley, located between Canal Street (Manhattan), Canal and Franklin Streets in the blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Lafayette Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
Two notable alleys in the Greenwich Village neighborhood in Manhattan are MacDougal Street, MacDougal Alley and Washington Mews. The latter is a blind alley or ''cul-de-sac''. Greenwich Village also has a number of private alleys that lead to back houses, which can only be accessed by residents, including Grove Court, Patchin Place and Milligan Place, all blind alleys. Patchin Place is notable for the writers who lived there. In the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, Grace Court Alley is another converted mews, as is Dennett Place in the Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens neighborhood. The former is a ''cul-de-sac''.
Shubert Alley is a long pedestrian alley at the heart of the Broadway theatre, Broadway theater district of New York City. The alley was originally created as a fire exit between the Shubert Theatre (Broadway), Shubert Theatre on West 45th Street and the Booth Theatre on West 44th Street, and the Astor Hotel to their east. Actors once gathered in the alley, hoping to attract the attention of the Shubert Brothers and get employment in their theatrical productions. When the hotel was torn down, and replaced with One Astor Plaza (1515 Broadway), the apparent width of the alley increased, as the new building did not go all the way to the westernmost edge of the building lot. However, officially, Shubert Alley consists only of the space between the two theatres and the lot line.
= Philadelphia
= The Old City, Philadelphia, Old City and Society Hill neighborhoods ofPhiladelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, the oldest parts of the city, include a number of alleys, notably Elfreth's Alley
Elfreth's Alley is a historic street in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, dating back to 1703. The street has 32 houses, built between 1703 and 1836. The Elfreth's Alley Museum is located at #124 and 126.Historical marker on Elfreth's ...
, which is called "Our nation's oldest residential street", dating from 1702. , there were 32 houses on the street, which were built between 1728 and 1836.
There are numerous cobblestoned residential passages in Philadelphia, many no wider than a truck, and typically flanked with brick houses. A typical house on these alleys or lanes is called a Philadelphia "Trinity", named because it has three rooms, one to each floor, alluding to the Christian Trinity. These alleys include Willings Alley, between S. 3rd and S. 4th Streets and Walnut and Spruce Streets. Other streets in Philadelphia which fit the general description of an alley, but are not named "alley", include :commons:Cuthbert Street, Cuthbert Street, :commons:Filbert Street, Filbert Street, Phillips Street, South American Street, Sansom Walk, St. James Place, and numerous others.
= Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
= Steps, Pittsburgh's equivalent for an alley, have defined it for many visitors. Writing in 1937, war correspondent Ernie Pyle wrote of the steps of Pittsburgh:And then the steps. Oh Lord, the steps! I was told they actually had a Department of Steps. That isn't exactly true, although they do have an Inspector of Steps. But there are nearly of city-owned steps, going up mountainsides.The City of Pittsburgh maintains 712 sets of Steps of Pittsburgh, city-owned steps, some of which are shown as streets on maps.
= San Francisco, California
=
In hilly San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, California alleys often take the form of steps and it has several hundred public stairways. Among the most famous is the stairway known as the Filbert steps, a continuation of Filbert Street (San Francisco), Filbert Street. The Filbert Street Steps descend the east slope of Telegraph Hill along the line where Filbert Street would be if the hill was not so steep. The stairway is bordered by greenery, that consists both backyards, and a border garden tended to and paid for by the residents of the "street", and runs down to an eastern stub of Filbert Street and the walkway through the plaza to Embarcadero (San Francisco), The Embarcadero. Many houses in this residential neighborhood are accessible only from the steps.
Also in San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, Belden Place is a narrow pedestrian alley, bordered by restaurants, in the Financial District, San Francisco, California, Financial District, referred to as San Francisco's French Quarter for its historic ties to early French immigrants, and its popular contemporary French restaurants and institutions. The area was home to San Francisco's first French settlers. Approximately 3,000, sponsored by the French government, arrived near the end of the Gold Rush in 1851.
= San Luis Obispo
= Bubblegum Alley is a tourist attraction where people have left their finished bubblegum on the walls of an alley for decades. The walls have been cleaned multiple times only to have the gum rapidly reappear.= Seattle
= There are over 600 publicly accessible stairways withinSeattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, a city of hills, bluffs, and canyons. For an example see Howe Street Stairs.
Green and revitalized alleys
Numerous cities in the United States and Canada, such as Chicago, Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., and Montréal, have started reclaiming their alleys from garbage and crime by greening the service lanes, or back ways, that run behind some houses."Green Alley Projects"on the District of Columbia Department of Transportation website Chicago, Illinois has about of alleyways. In 2006, the Chicago Department of Transportation started converting conventional alleys which were paved with Asphalt concrete, asphalt into so called Green Alleys. This program, called the Green Alley Program, is supposed to enable easier water runoff, as the alleyways in Chicago are not connected directly to the sewer system. With this program, the water will be able to seep through semi-permeable concrete or Asphalt concrete, asphalt in which a colony of fungi and bacteria will establish itself. The bacteria will help breakup oils before the water is absorbed into the ground. The lighter color of the pavement will also reflect more light, making the area next to the alley cooler. The greening of such alleys or laneways can also involve the planting of native plants to further absorb rain water and moderate temperature. In 2002, a group of Baltimore residents from the Patterson Park neighborhood approached the Patterson Park Community Development Corporation (CDC) looking for a way to improve the dirty, crime-ridden alley that ran behind their homes. Simultaneously, Community Greens also approached the Patterson Park CDC looking for an alley they could use as a pilot project in Baltimore. This led The Luzerne-Glover block being granted a temporary permit from the city to gate their alleyway, despite the fact that it was not yet legal to gate a Right-of-way (property access), right-of-way. Eventually the law was changed so that Baltimore residents could legally gate and green the alleys behind their homes. New life has also come to other alleys within downtown commercial districts of various cities throughout the world with the opening of businesses, such as coffee houses, shops, restaurants and bars. Another way that alleys and laneways are being revitalized is through laneway housing. A laneway house is a form of housing that has been proposed on the west coast of Canada, especially in the Greater Vancouver, Metro Vancouver area. These homes are typically built into pre-existing land lot, lots, usually in the backyard and opening onto the back lane. This form of housing already exists in Vancouver, and revised regulations now encourage new developments as part of a plan to increase urban density in pre-existing neighbourhoods while retaining a single-family feel to the area. Vancouver's average laneway house is one and a half stories, with one or two bedrooms. Typical regulations require that the laneway home is built on the back half of a traditional lot in the space normally reserved for a garage."Livable Lanes: A Study of Infill Laneway Housing in Vancouver and Other B.C. Communities"
on the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation website (November 2009) Toronto also has a tradition of laneway housing and changed regulations to encourage new development. However this was discontinued in 2006 after staff reviewed the impact on services and safety.
Mexico
There are alleys in Mexico City including ''Callejón del Aguacate'', Avocado Alley.Other terms
English
* In Australia and Canada the termslane
In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in eac ...
, laneway, right-of-way and serviceway are also used.
* In some parts of the United States, alleys are sometimes known as rear lanes or back lanes because they are at the back of buildings.
* In parts of Canada, Australia and the United States, mews, a term which originated in London, England, is also used for some alleys or small streets (see, for example, Washington Mews in Greenwich Village, New York City).
Non-English
* In India the equivalent term is ''Gali'' which were prevalent during Moghul Period (1526 C.E. to 1700 C.E.) * The French ''allée
In landscaping, an avenue (from the French), alameda (from the Portuguese and Spanish), or allée (from the French), is a straight path or road with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each side, which is used, as its Latin source ' ...
'' meaning Avenue (landscape), avenue is used in parts of Europe such as Croatia and Serbia as a name for a boulevard
A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district.
In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...
(such as Bologna Alley in Zagreb). The Swedish language, Swedish word "''allé''" and the German word "Allee", are also based on this French ''allée'' (such as Karl-Marx-Allee
Karl-Marx-Allee () is a boulevard built by East Germany between 1952 and 1960 in Berlin Friedrichshain and Mitte. Today the boulevard is named after the German philosopher Karl Marx. It should not be confused with the Karl-Marx-Straße station ...
in Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
).
* In France, the term ''allée'' is not used as the actual word is ''ruelle'', which is described as, "an alley between buildings, often accessible only to pedestrians. These streets are found especially in old city neighbourhoods, particularly in Europe and in the Arab-Muslim world".Google translation ''Passage'' and ''sentier'' (path) are also used.
* Czech language, Czech and some other Slavic languages use the term "ulička" (little street) for alley, a diminutive form of "ulice", the word for ''street''.
* In Montréal, Canada ''ruelle'' (diminutive of French ''rue'', a street) is used for a back lane or service alley. There has been an endeavour to green these and some are quite attractive.
* In the Philippines, a common term is ''eskinita'', and refers to any small passage not considered a street between two buildings, especially in shantytowns. The term is ultimately derived from the diminutive of the Spanish language, Spanish word ''esquina'', meaning "corner".
Gallery
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
File:Bar alley in the city center on Kajaani.JPG, A Bar (establishment), bar alley in Kajaani, Finland
File:Porvoo Old Town (13) (35852282094).jpg, A sloping alley in the old town of Porvoo, Finland
File:Rue du Baron, Florac, France.jpg, Rue du Baron in Florac, France
File:Arco di via Tirolo (Rodi Garganico).jpg, Arco di Via Tirolo, Rodi Garganico, Apulia, Italy
File:Breakneck Steps, Quebec City, 1870.jpg, Breakneck Steps, Quebec City, around 1870
See also
* , also known as tree alley or allée * * Great Yarmouth Row Houses, England * Bubblegum Alley, San Luis Obispo, California, USA * * Right of way (disambiguation) ** * * * *References
Notes Bibliography * DuSablon, Mary Anna, ''Walking the Steps of Cincinnati''. Athens, OH.: Ohio University Press, 1998.Hage, Sara A., ''Alleys: Negotiating Identity in Traditional, Urban, and New Urban Communities''. M.A. Thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2008.
* Long, David, ''Hidden City: The Secret Alleys, Courts & Yards of London's Square Mile''. London: The History Press, 2011. * Regan, Bob, ''The Steps of Pittsburgh: Portrait of a City''. Pittsburgh, PA.: The Local History Company, 2004. *
External links
* {{Authority control Types of streets Types of roads Footpaths Trails Hiking Alleys,