I have found myself travelling a lot recently between London and Milan, with the inevitable late-night or early-morning schlep around the north-eastern quadrant of the north circular to home and a similar journey around Milan’s Tangenziale; arrival and departure always soundtracked by taxi-drivers’ fondness for easy-listening. Who doesn’t love staring out of the window?

It got me thinking about what’s the same and what’s different about the two routes. Both function in the same way: an orbital route connecting a series of lateral routes to and from the centre, facilitating avoidance and tangential movement. And both cut through the haphazard edges of the city – scrub, suburb, backlands and industrial districts loosely strung together in an often messy agglomeration. 

…