Comparing the sketch I drew from memory for this assignment to a map I bought when I arrived here in Cambridge three weeks ago, it stroke me that there were vast areas on the campus and in the city I did not know – let alone how they looked like. Whereas I was able to measure distances quite accurately - I believe this is thanks to my daily commute either on my bicycle or by foot - I was not able to sketch a “complete” map of Harvard Square and surrounding. Rather, I realized that my sketch only features the environment I interact with on a daily basis such as the buildings I have courses in, my local bakery or green spaces I use to go for a run – short, the sketch only featured what is important for me as an individual to be able to interact with the city and to get around in it. Furthermore, in contrast to the map I bought, I structured my sketch in commercial, residential and green areas – again a help for me to get around. Whereas the map only showed streets and houses and made no distinctions between different uses of the buildings and streets, my sketch allowed me to locate shops, private homes or University property and even bike lanes on the streets. In my opinion these differences between my sketch and the map stem from the following reasoning: maps are a highly simplified reflection of reality. By reducing complexity to one specific layer of a city – such as the street system and adjacent housing in the example of the map I bought – they allow their users to be able to orient themselves and find what they are looking for. However in order to be able to do so maps only show one aspect of the complex reality. If we for example included a heat map on top of the street map it would definitely serve the homeless person to find what he is looking for (a warm shelter) – however it would confuse the car driver looking for a specific street. Each map hence serves its own purpose. Therefore, I believe my sketch is different from the map I bought because it represents the layers important to me personally (green spaces, university buildings, roads were I bike etc.) – or put it differently because it represents my view of reality and how I relate to and interact with the city I now live in.
Looking at Google Map shows me that I have a basic understanding of the layout of Harvard Yard, but my map does not accurately portray Harvard Square and the Quad. I have included almost all of the buildings in Harvard Yard, and they are in the correct location in relation to one another. I did not place Robinson, Sever, and Emerson in the right spots in the Yard, so my map has a lot of empty space where they should be located. But, the sizes of the freshman dorms and the libraries are pretty accurate on my map. Outside of the Yard, I did not construct Harvard Square correctly, but I did include the streets that border the Yard. I had a lot of trouble figuring out where all the houses are in relation to one another, so I ended up estimating. On the other side of the Yard, the only buildings I knew how to sketch were the Science Center and Memorial Hall. I did not know how close the Law School is to the Science Center, but I knew it is behind it. I suppose that the two maps are so different because I only knew how to construct a map of the places I visit on a regular basis – the Yard, especially my dorm and the surrounding dorms, and the Science Center and Annenberg. I do not go to the Quad often, so I did not know how to map out the building configuration. Similarly, I have not been to the Law School many times, so it was tough for me to pinpoint its exact location. This suggests that we only use a few parts of the city on a regular basis, and those are the places that we come to relate to. We only know how to sketch a map of the places that we visit often and have the opportunity to observe.
I think that the overarching features of the area are similar in my drawing and in the actual map. I paid particular attention to the layout of buildings in the yard as well as the area near The Charles on the Somerville side. I also focused a lot on making sure to add color to the photo in order to separate different types of spaces, in particular: water, pavement, grass, and buildings (both classic brick and modern). One aspect that I found particularly difficult was the proportionality of roads, the exact directions of each road, and how the road systems are connected. In addition, while it was not very hard to picture each part of the map from the perspective of someone walking on the ground, I found it particularly difficult to mentally adjust this image to a bird’s eye view. I think that my map and the exact map are different primarily because people do not remember tiny details of places with which they do not normally interact. For example, I walk down JFK St. to the boathouse every day yet I could hardly remember the order of the shops along the street except for the ones that I frequently visit (i.e. CVS). However, as I mentioned earlier, I think that people retain a good general relative spatial perception of the area around them with regard to the general shapes of roads, buildings, and parks. In other words, I know that the Science Center is beside Annenberg and across from Canaday, but it is hard for me to remember exactly how the path between the buildings looks or what the relative distances between each one are.
In this drawing, while looking at private vs. public space, I tried to emphasize three kinds of space—Harvard space, green space, and streets (the most public space). Though there are more buildings in the area, I only included Harvard buildings and those with which I interact with in a Harvard setting because they are fall somewhere between public and private space. To my classmates and I, they are public—within the buildings outlined in gray, there are few places we are not allowed—but to the general populace, the buildings are largely guarded by swipe access or, in some cases, actual guards. The green space also falls in a gray area between public and private space. Some of these spaces are publically owned and accessible (Cambridge Common), some are privately owned but publically accessible (Harvard Yard), and some are fully private, gardens rather than parks (the courtyards within the houses). The streets share none of this fuzziness—they are open to everyone. What I found most enlightening and frustrating about creating this drawing was relating one section to the next—things would feel in scale, or seem right, but then when I would add the next piece, it wouldn’t fit together like it should. The streets feel straighter when you’re walking them.
My initial reaction upon comparing my map was honestly accuracy -- everything in terms of streets and intersections is mostly accurate between the River Houses and the Science Center, with the exceptions of having 1 fewer street between Mass Ave and Mt. Auburn St. and forgetting Bow St., near Mt. Auburn. What I had in accuracy for streets I definitely did not have for specific buildings, other than Harvard dorms. I could quite accurately depict most of the shapes of the houses and position of the first-year dorms, once I thought about it. One thing that occurred to me as I was drawing was that much of my knowledge came from times when I biked around the area, because vehicular transportation -- even by bicycle -- transports you quickly enough to expose the patterns of streets and intersections quickly enough to be remembered and mentally connected. Places where I could not or did not bike are almost invariably hazier. I think it is partially for this reason that the grid system, for example, is a construct with many American cities, where vehicular transport is an assumption, since pedestrians can wayfind without a grid but it is more heavily perceived by those in vehicles.
I found this sketch exercise quite intriguing because I realized I had a good understanding and background knowledge for the layout of the Harvard campus spatially. More specifically, I had a good idea for which directions the campus spread in and, in general, where things exist relative to each other. That being said, after looking at a map of campus, I was definitely less familiar with those parts of the campus that I spend less time around. As you can see from my sketch, my layout of the river houses relative to each other is most definitely off, as well as the streets around them. I live in the quad and am a concentrator in SEAS with Secondary in Music. As a result, my knowledge of the Yard and the SEAS and Law campuses as well as neighboring buildings is much stronger. Some interesting challenges I came across with this exercise were deciding what orientation for the paper I wanted to start sketching, and, relatedly, the scale of my drawings of the buildings relative to each other. Moreover, I realized that I should pay more attention to the layout of buildings between streets themselves! This part in particular was more difficult than I had originally expected.
I sketched the spaces of the square that have played an important role in my experience here at Harvard. Several things stand out to me after reviewing my final sketch. First, I underestimated the size of Dunster House relative to neighboring houses. This was a pattern I noticed over the several sketches that I attempted for my final. Additionally, I inflated the size of the buildings north of the yard. I don’t take many classes there, and the unfamiliarity is likely the reason that the buildings are so large relative to the spaces I know well. I also inflated the size of the green off of Massachusetts Avenue, probably due to this strangeness as well. This exercise is important for understanding how individuals interact with cities. It suggests that we should explore areas of urban environments with which we are unfamiliar. Detailed investigations of these environments would help us create a more accurate mental map of spaces, and help us better understand the communities that we inhabit. Personally, I feel I could better understand Harvard Square and the areas previously unknown to me by simply walking through them and interacting with the people that inhabit them.
As a resident of Adams House, which is right next to the yard, without thinking too much about the scale of my drawing, I ended up focusing pretty narrowly on the aspects of Harvard Square that I visit regularly. What was very surprising to me after the fact was how large I had draw certain shopping center areas, like the Garage, relative to Harvard dorm buildings, including ones I had lived in. Since I do not spend a lot of time shopping but do have to pass by those stores, in my map they took up far more space because that’s how it feels when navigating through the shopping areas - like an inconvenient time loss. Perhaps a tourist would have drawn a map with more detail and correctness of the shops as opposed to a busy student going to and from class.