Paper street
Encyclopedia
A paper street is a road
or street
that appears on maps but does not exist in reality. Paper streets generally occur when city planners
or subdivision
developers lay out and dedicate streets that are never built. Commercial street maps based only on official subdivision and land records may show these streets, which are legally public rights of way though usually undriveable.
Paper streets (and, by extension, paper towns) have also been placed on maps deliberately, as a form of copyright trap.
A play
on the term is found in Chuck Palahniuk
's novel Fight Club
, as well as the film based on that book
. Tyler Durden's house on "Paper Street" is a metaphor for the narrator's split personality.
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
or street
Street
A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable...
that appears on maps but does not exist in reality. Paper streets generally occur when city planners
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
or subdivision
Subdivision (land)
Subdivision is the act of dividing land into pieces that are easier to sell or otherwise develop, usually via a plat. The former single piece as a whole is then known in the United States as a subdivision...
developers lay out and dedicate streets that are never built. Commercial street maps based only on official subdivision and land records may show these streets, which are legally public rights of way though usually undriveable.
Paper streets (and, by extension, paper towns) have also been placed on maps deliberately, as a form of copyright trap.
A play
Wordplay
Wordplay is a musician/actor, of mixed British and Black African descent. Gaining worldwide exposure as an actor in 1998 through the Austrian Obscuro Gothic science fiction film "Dandy dust" directed by Hans Schierl...
on the term is found in Chuck Palahniuk
Chuck Palahniuk
Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter...
's novel Fight Club
Fight Club (novel)
Fight Club is a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. It follows the experiences of an unnamed protagonist struggling with insomnia. Inspired by his doctor's exasperated remark that insomnia is not suffering, he finds relief by impersonating a seriously ill person in several support groups...
, as well as the film based on that book
Fight Club (film)
Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job...
. Tyler Durden's house on "Paper Street" is a metaphor for the narrator's split personality.