A Harvard crossroads in summer
Some people came to drink kombucha and eat lamb sandwiches. Others came to study organic chemistry, smack pingpong balls, and breathe some fresh air. Jasmine Boussem and Jennifer Jones came to the redesigned plaza outside Harvard’s Science Center in search of smokers. “We’re not finding many,” Jones, a research assistant in the Department of Psychology, said with a laugh yesterday. Jones and Boussem, a fellow researcher, made their way through the plaza’s minimalistic tables and wavy benches looking for candidates for a study on smoking habits, but the plaza crowd leaned more toward bicycles than cigarettes. Yet they did find themselves among other psychology researchers, drawn to the eclectic lunchtime mix of students, faculty, and tourists. “It’s a natural place for people to congregate,” Boussem said, cradling a clipboard in her arms. Part of Harvard’s Common Spaces program, the project to transform the former thoroughfare over Cambridge Street into a comfortable destination was completed...