Because this is a path that I walk often, the map wasn't too different from online maps. There were, however, some noticeable distortions and some proportions were off as well. However, my map is different in that the positioning of many of the landmarks along my path were based on relative positioning rather than definite positioning along the street. However, I think this shows how we look at the city on our daily walks along paths we walk often. We walk along our paths knowing the order of landmarks to our final destination, but we might not know the absolute distances between each. This makes it so that the maps we make come out looking slightly like caricatures rather than a map from Google Maps – we know around where everything is located but not where everything is exactly. The city is a collection of landmarks we know of and have in a relatively ordered state in our minds.
Sketching a map of Harvard Square from memory was an interesting exercise. Overall, I was rather surprised by how accurate my map came to be. I started my sketch using the major roads as a framework, and I think that turned out to be very helpful. Major thoroughfares such as Mass Ave, Garden St, JFK St, Oxford St, and Memorial Drive provided the backbone for my sketch, and did a pretty good job of keeping things in scale. I think my knowledge of the roadways of the city is partially due to a lot of time spent driving in Cambridge – I had a car in the city for one semester, and continue to use zipcars quite regularly for different extra curricular activities. The river also helped anchor the sketch, and a lot of time spent rowing on the Charles has made me familiar with its bends and curves. There are some glaring absences from the map, though, which also provide interesting insights. Parts west of JFK St are largely forgotten. This surprised me, because I do spend quite a bit of time in the Brattle Square area, but I rarely drive through there, and so I forgot the relationship of the streets. And without the streets, I had a tough time visualizing everything else. I also struggled to visualize the area to the east of Lamont Library and the old yard. I left a bunch of space between Quincy Street and the yard, which I don’t think really exists. And I had no idea what exists between Prescott and Barker Streets, other than the Barker Center.
For my sketch, I followed ChengHe’s advice and focused on the areas that are most meaningful to me on campus—these also happen to be the areas that I spend the most time in at Harvard. Most notable, although not central in my sketch, is my home away from home: Adams House. Harvard College really intends for the Houses to be fulfilling communities and I truly feel that Adams succeeds at this. This is why I have spent so much time and graphite on the bottom right corner of the map. I also (rather cheekily) did not mark the other houses on my map. Adams residents have a reputation for looking down upon and being snobby towards other houses—I used my map to perpetuate this notion. The other places that are important to me on campus, namely coffee, libraries, and the art museum are also marked. The central part of campus is Harvard Yard and as such takes the central location on my sketch. If I had a bit more time and artistic ability, perhaps I could’ve inverted the map to make Adams the center of my sketch (since it is the center of my Harvard universe). I was able to draw out the big buildings in the Yard that I’m familiar with—i.e. freshman dorms, classroom buildings, but I definitely haven’t stepped foot in places like Robinson Hall or Loeb House to remember to include them. I think I also drew the paths incorrectly; however, the aim was more to show some representation of a walkway rather than necessarily depict the existing walkways. Additionally, I think my scale is some way off given that Adams appears much larger than some of the dorms in the Yard, and Widener is nowhere near as large as it should be (it is much bigger than most of the dorms), but the shapes and sizes I drew are the evocations of these places in my head and probably as such depict their relative importance to my life.
I tried to stay somewhat realistic in my interpretation of the Harvard campus and its surrounding area because my routes are relatively geometric and systematic when I am navigating my way around Harvard Yard and down to the athletic fields. I emphasized my personal route with an orange trail. I also detailed my corner of the Yard - the Union dorms. I visualize Harvard as being highly organized, and the routes that I take most often are also linear and follow the geometric organization of the campus. I found the perimeters of the Yard to be particularly important in my sketch because I, relative to the average Harvard freshmen, rarely frequent Harvard Yard. The terminals of my daily journeys are also on the perimeters of the Yard, starting at Pennypacker and ending with either the Science Center or Memorial Hall. I additionally highlighted the routes of the highest volume of foot traffic in pink, which I experience directly every day when walking to and from class. Finally, I attempted to outline Harvard property in blue. In addition, I could not detail the area of Cambridge because I rarely venture westward (from the Yard). I have learned from this sketch that walking certain routes will, obviously, lend you to be more familiar with spatial relationships between your destinations. I am extremely familiar with the areas between Pennypacker and Memorial Hall because I have made that walk so many time. I less sure about the area south of Mt. Auburn Ave and west of Mass Ave. My map is somewhat similar to the official university map, but not as detailed in areas that I do not walk through frequently.
While drawing this map, I realized how little I knew about the specific businesses located in the Square and how difficult it was to draw what I perceived. I tried to draw a map that was more or less to scale with how I saw the area, but I soon realized that it was quite a challenge. I had a good idea of the orientation of buildings and the general location of clusters of buildings and such, but I think I tried to be too specific and did not have enough room for what I wanted to draw. Before the final sketch I attempted two others that mapped out the well-known spots, and then I realized that even if I knew the smaller “boxes” on the map, I could not fit the names on to the sheet. I also realized that aside from the known courtyards and small gardens, not much green was mapped out on my map of the Square. It really demonstrated what I see as representative of the area, and logically that is the University.
It was most difficult to sketch the scale of the campus, because I conceive of the campus as a series of discrete, interconnected areas rather than conceiving it continuously (cf the Situationist ‘map’). I found it interesting that there is a sort of ordering of discrete areas as well. In relation to the Common or the river area I conceive of Harvard Yard as one area, but when thinking of the Yard or the Yard in relation to to surrounding areas (eg Barker Center), I see the Yard as made of discrete areas as well (the Yard proper, Tercentary theater, etc). The area north and northeast of the Science Center is one that I do not frequent very often, and the space’s relations to others is very blurry for me. I am most familiar with the area surrounding my home in Lowell House. My map is most likely distorted due to the time spent in areas. I have spent more time in places like the Yard or my surrounding home environment. Travel routes are interesting because I am more spatially aware of routes whose scenery I enjoy or am attentive to (the Common) than areas where I space-out because there is not anything I am interested in (Garden St from the Common to the Quad). I think it is interesting that the particular locations of the shops on Mass Ave and on the streets connecting Mass Ave to Mt Auburn are jumbled to me. I do not shop much, but I do pass them every day and I imagine that a business would like residents to know where it is.
Sketching Harvard and the surrounding area from memory took a number of attemps. The most challenging things was definitely the scale. I initially started by first sketching the river houses and put some time into getting their details and relative proportions right. However, I soon realized that I would be needing a much larger peice of paper if I was going to fit it all in. I started again with the Charles river, the Quad and the Harvard yard, trying to figure out their relative proportions. After much erasing and redrawing, I came up with a rough skeleton that I felt was most correct and filled it in from there. Comparing it to the layout of Harvard on Google Maps it is clear that I’ve over- and under-estimated some proportions as well as miss features entirely. In my initial mental maps I placed more emphasis on the houses along the river than other parts of the school as they are parts I feel I know best. Conversely I found it difficult to understand/draw how all the buildings in the square fit together or the arrangement of buildings in the athletic complex over the river. I initially wanted to get the specific shapes and details of buildings correct but later decided that describing the relative distance between buildings was more important. This exercise made me realize how little I pay attention to the buildings on campus that don’t use. Examples of this are Wigglesworth (freshmen dorms) and The Harvard Lampoon. I also made the area behind the science center - with all the engineering, CS, chemistry and biology labs - larger than it actually is. This might be accounted for by the fact that there is a lot of grassy area around those buildings which creates the illusion of more space between buildings than there really is.
In this sketch, I attempt to visualize my own path around Harvard by drawing the places I frequent the most. In this sense, my representation of Harvard only takes into account the things that matter to me, leaving out the vast majority of the campus that may be of importance to others. Overall, I depict places of living (Kirkland House, Starbucks and CVS), leisure (Chipotle, Le’s and the T), academics (Littaeur, Emerson, and Lamont), and extracurriculars (Malkin Atheltic Center and Harvard Square Homeless Shelter). I used a logo when it was available and drew the building otherwise, as was the case for the buildings where I take classes and study. In order to depict the relative importance of the different locations and my movement throughout the campus, I drew the thickness of the path based on how frequently I followed it. For example, I spend the most time in Kirkland House at the bottom of the sketch, so the line is extremely thick. Because I go to Chipotle much less frequently, the line is much thinner. My sketch is quite different from the standard map of Harvard because it is very personal. Comparing the two, I was surprised by how often I misjudged relative distance. Chipotle is much further West than I had previously thought, and Littaeur is much further North than I had depicted. In many ways, these misjudgments of relative distance are a reflection of my experience walking to and from these locations. My walk to Chipotle feels much faster perhaps because I can tolerate further distances when I am hungry, and time may seem to fly when I’m rushing across the yard to get to class on time. Ultimately, my sketch illuminates to me how the experience of travel across Harvard’s campus is much less about true distance and more about the emotional and mental state that I carry when I go about my everyday business.
In sketching my map of Harvard, I realized that the features of Cambridge that I can see clearly in my mind’s eye vary depending on the location. For instance, I am very familiar with the subtle curve along Garden Street because I walk up and down the street nearly every day, yet I am not familiar with the buildings and houses along Garden Street. Interestingly, I am familiar with the placement of buildings in Harvard Yard, but less so with the buildings’ orientation to the rest of campus. Since I seldom frequent the River Houses by foot, I am unfamiliar with the many streets that separate Harvard Square from the Charles River. After looking at an official university map, I began to recall many of the shops that I had forgotten about along, for instance, Mount Auburn Street. Nevertheless, I struggled to remember how it all fit together. The sinuous roads throughout Cambridge are disorienting. Overall, my map depicts a truncated version of Cambridge. I wonder if my depiction of Harvard’s campus and Cambridge, more generally, suggests that I perceive the area as a resource (instead of as a rich landscape). That is to say, I feel connected to the places I walk to, but not necessarily to the paths that I take to get there.