When one thinks of Pretoria, one imagines the Union Buildings, state theatre and Jacaranda-lined streets. Well, one such street, named after the architect of the Union Buildings, has come fourth in a study of the world’s most eye-catching streets. Herbert Baker Street in Groenkloof, Pretoria, beat several other iconic streets in the world for its prestigious placing. Unlike other Jacaranda-lined streets, which explode with brilliant purple flowers every spring, the Groenkloof street also features Jacarandas that have rare white flowers.
The study, commissioned by a United Kingdom real estate comparison website GetAgent, compiled a list of 50 streets from around the world and showed images of the streets to a sample of 40 participants. Eye-tracking software was used to record the number of times people looked at each image and the duration spent looking at them. The average fixation time was then used to rank each street according to how “attractive” it is. Talk about giving us a second glance. 😆
The number one street was Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto, Japan, holding people’s attention for 6.2 seconds. The street, lined with cherry blossom trees that bloom pink in spring, turns a vibrant green in summer. Streets in France and Italy took second and third spots.
Streets from Scotland, England, The Netherlands and Singapore made it to the top 10 but just couldn’t beat the Jacaranda city’s iconic street. 🌸
Tshego is a writer and law student from Pretoria. A keen follower of social media trends, his interests include high fantasy media, politics, science, talk radio, reading and listening to music.
He is also probably one of the only people left who still play Pokemon Go.
