The Magnet:
A magnet refers to something attractive visually, olfactorily, or audial; usually an object, such as a painting, flowers, sculpture or fountain. These items draw an observer closer with the desire for more to be revealed and, usually, enjoyed (a car wreck would be an obvious exception).
Magnets are not always small objects, however, as they can be things such as an interesting view through a window, or the sound of a waterfall in the distance. For simplicity, for now this blog is only concerned with visual magnets, since they are much easier to analyze in terms of how they might influence an individual's movements, and the most effective method of guiding individuals, with good site, through spaces. That is, an individual will only know of a visual magnet once a clear site line to it is established, and only at that time will individuals tend to move towards the magnet.
As an example of a visual magnet, take a person walking down a sidewalk. Imagine that they suddenly happen upon a small plaza between two buildings. Spatially, the plaza itself could have some attractive force inherent in it (depending on its geometry and the geometry of the surrounding area), but imagine if the plaza had a beautiful fountain in its center. Once the fountain is in the individual's sight, it will have, for all intents and purposes, an attractive force pulling the observer closer to it(whether the person actually moves towards the fountain depends on a number of factors outside the scope of this post).
Sound and smell are much more complex senses in terms of their impact on movement. To illustrate this complexity as it relates to sound, imagine again the scenario above but with the added fact that the fountain is very loud and can be heard from a distance. Since sound will bounce and echo off of solid objects, in a city with buildings in every direction it may appear to the individual that the sound originates across the street, or even from behind. The observer in a dense city, who is dependant on sound to find an object, may easily meander a while before actually locating a loud fountain in a small plaza.
The purpose of pointing out that sound and smell can be magnets in terms of human circulation is primarily to serve as a counterpoint to the important role that sight plays. Although it is not entirely beyond me that this post also opens the door to the possibility that architectural management of the other senses might be done to effectively guide those with limited sight through spaces.
