PEP 582 is in the works to make __pypackages__ the Python equivalent of node_modules. Not sure if it will get accepted but I hope it does.
> a mechanism to automatically recognize a __pypackages__ directory and prefer importing packages installed in this location over user or global site-packages. This will avoid the steps to create, activate or deactivate "virtual environments".
> a mechanism to automatically recognize a __pypackages__ directory and prefer importing packages installed in this location over user or global site-packages. This will avoid the steps to create, activate or deactivate "virtual environments".
https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0582/