Tania Fabo

Tania Fabo

For my map, I decided to focus on Harvard as not simply a campus, but rather as a community. I attempted to do this by depicting the various populations that are represented at Harvard: not just the students, faculty, and other Harvard affiliates, but also the Cambridge community residents, the homeless population around Harvard, and the tourists. Harvard has effectively taken over the Square and surrounding areas, from the upperclassman houses all around, to the random affiliate buildings scattered about the Cambridge area. Thus, Harvard has also had to “deal” with the effect of taking over a space. After looking at the map, I believe that Harvard has struck a good balance between being an open campus and an academic institution. There are a number of spaces in which Harvard has allowed/welcomed the presence on non-Harvard affiliates, from the Science Center Plaza as a major tourist site, to the Smith Campus Center as a restaurant hub for local residents, and the Harvard student-run youth homeless shelter. But while Harvard students co-inhabit the space with Cambridge residents, the homeless, and tourists, there is still a degree of safety found in the Harvard-only spaces. Notice how the non-Harvard affiliates are always on the outskirts. Rarely inside any of the buildings, never inside the upperclassman house courtyards. This allows for what one might call “selective interaction”: we can acknowledge your presence when we want to, but at the end of the day, we will always have our own spaces to return to.