Lucas Cuatrecasas

Lucas Cuatrecasas

Aside from a predictable prioritization of those features and regions of the Harvard-dominated part of Cambridge that I observe or use most often, my map doesn't seem to stray too far from more standard cartographies (namely, Google Maps). One surprisingly stark discrepancy is in the contour of the Charles, which is dramatically more curvy in Google Maps's aerial view. In my map I've unintentionally smoothed out the river's sinusoid pattern and almost totally elided the deep trough where the bridge from JFK Street to Soldier's Field is. At first, I found this confusing, as I often run along Memorial Drive and know very well that the Cambridge side of the river makes for a shorter run because it's on the inside of these curves. But then I figured that my straightening of the Charles follows a different logic—that of perceiving space as organized around the underlying intentions of one's movements. The river's banks seem straight to me because, running along them, I concentrate on moving toward a point on the horizon, not on the sinuous way I'll get there.
Another puzzling difference is my collapsing of the fire station near the Science Center plaza with the block directly behind it, a choice which erased the portion of Quicy St. running between them. I bike through this piece of Quincy at least twice a week, so it makes little sense to ignore what is essentially a vital artery for me. This decision, however, seems to be due to some kind of accretive space warping I've applied to the whole area surround this street. Looking closely at my map I see that I've actually shifted Quincy over to where Prescott ought to be (that is, behind the Harvard Art Museums) and made Prescott into an invisible alleyway between CGIS South and the buildings across the street from it, which I've never gone into. I assume that, given the particular way I experience the city, I never give much thought to the block that lies in between the Fire Station and the CGIS complex—this block is actually little more than an inconvenience I must overcome to get to CGIS—and my map demonstrates a passive-aggressive amnesia of this annoying congregation of buildings: they are literally "neither here nor there." These and other slight memory failures that have affected my map seem to all relate less to my daily physical experience of the city (since I do feel the effect of the features I've forgotten) and more to a psychological aversion to remembering that which does not align with my mental network of Cambridge’s important hubs and spokes.