Akshay Verma
Title
Akshay Verma
Description
Comparing my map to an official campus one, it looks like my sense of where the streets are is a bit off. Before making this map, I walked around campus consciously, taking special note of where streets were in relation to one another so that I could better draw this map from memory. Another shortcoming of my map is its scale; I did not perhaps do the best job in portraying how big and far apart major buildings and parks are when compared to one another.
Aside from this, my map does share general similarities to an “official” map. I used the Charles River as the starting point in making my sketch, which proved helpful in laying everything out. Although the scale might be a bit off, I seem to have gotten correct the general sense of where things are—the Quad, the Law School, Science Center, campus buildings, the River, the athletic fields, the Harvard Art Museums, and other campus buildings.
The two are different largely because my rendition of the map was a reflection of how I walk around Harvard Square and the spaces I use most. When I sketched it out, I found myself marking the places I know best, and then going from there. This “skewed” my map a little because these spaces tended to be bigger and more defined than streets, buildings, and areas I don’t necessarily go to. This was a primary reason why, I think, my sketch is fairly different from the original, and why maps like this that are drawn from memory are inherently subjective representations of physical space.
Apart from spatially mapping different major streets, buildings, and green spaces in my sketch, I also explore the relative density of different areas in the Square. These are represented by the dots. This allowed me to think back to my own experiences on the streets to note where people tend to congregate. Certain places, such as near the T and the Smith Center, are much more densely used than spaces like around JFK Park or between Cambridge Common and the Quad. This was a really fascinating look into how and why people congregate in certain places over others.
Aside from this, my map does share general similarities to an “official” map. I used the Charles River as the starting point in making my sketch, which proved helpful in laying everything out. Although the scale might be a bit off, I seem to have gotten correct the general sense of where things are—the Quad, the Law School, Science Center, campus buildings, the River, the athletic fields, the Harvard Art Museums, and other campus buildings.
The two are different largely because my rendition of the map was a reflection of how I walk around Harvard Square and the spaces I use most. When I sketched it out, I found myself marking the places I know best, and then going from there. This “skewed” my map a little because these spaces tended to be bigger and more defined than streets, buildings, and areas I don’t necessarily go to. This was a primary reason why, I think, my sketch is fairly different from the original, and why maps like this that are drawn from memory are inherently subjective representations of physical space.
Apart from spatially mapping different major streets, buildings, and green spaces in my sketch, I also explore the relative density of different areas in the Square. These are represented by the dots. This allowed me to think back to my own experiences on the streets to note where people tend to congregate. Certain places, such as near the T and the Smith Center, are much more densely used than spaces like around JFK Park or between Cambridge Common and the Quad. This was a really fascinating look into how and why people congregate in certain places over others.
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Citation
“Akshay Verma,” US-WORLD 29, accessed June 27, 2024, https://usworld29.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/items/show/216.