Winnipeg is known for its back lanes. They are almost universal in the city, compared to Toronto for example, or any suburb built post-1980.

The City of Winnipeg has specific by-laws and policies addressing services and maintenance of back lanes in Winnipeg: http://www.winnipeg.ca/publicworks/services/LocalImprovements.asp

Nowhere have the back lanes of Winnipeg been more celebrated than in the film, My Winnpeg, by Gimli resident, Guy Maddin. Reviews of film descrbe the laneways as follows:

"shown on no map"
- Roger Ebert, https://books.google.ca/books?id=Jr0xCgLTQSUC&pg=PT870&lpg=PT870&dq=guy+maddin+winnipeg+back+lane&source=bl&ots=4d7Iim0FIy&sig=n9TsViS7CpvSwvmvTAKnsYCUO6o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRw4j68PDJAhXlt4MKHXKsAJIQ6AEIHTAB#v=onepage&q=guy%20maddin%20winnipeg%20back%20lane&f=false

"a shadowy mirror of the more respectable thoroughfares"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/his-own-private-winnipeg/article693512/?page=all

"the city's mysterious labyrinth" 
- http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tiff/features/tiffmaddin.html

"where the real Winnipeg is found... where memories become most plausibly alive
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/city_report_winnipeg/

"nihillistic"

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/short-stories-capture-the-essence-of-winnipeg-286915471.html

People are paying more attention to the back lane as an important element of urban planning:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanes_and_arcades_of_Melbourne

Other cities are working to emulate Winnipeg's successful laneway system:
http://www.vancouversun.com/Downtown+Vancouver+looks+rediscover+back+lanes/11299850/story.html?__lsa=4bad-497d

source: City of Winnipeg website