GSD students mull how to protect Provincetown while retaining its charm
Provincetown, Mass., has long captivated imaginations and lured souls to the tip of Cape Cod — from the Wampanoag people to the Mayflower Pilgrims who docked there before heading to Plymouth, to Henry David Thoreau, playwright Tennessee Williams, and poet Mary Oliver. Surrounded by expansive natural wetlands and beaches, P-town, as it’s commonly known, was a busy commercial fishing port through the 19th century. It became better known as a Bohemian summer enclave and theater/arts colony through the 1940s, before its rebirth in the 1970s as an idyllic LGBTQ summer mecca that today attracts visitors from around the world. Preston Scott Cohen, Gerald M. McCue Professor in Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design, readily admits he’s been smitten by P-town since the late 1980s, when he first started visiting regularly and where he now has a home. Despite its remote location, the town has a rich architectural tradition and an appreciation...