Harvard even forced some tenants, like a Volkswagen dealership, out of buildings for which plans are now unclear. The university has always described the expansion as a 50-year project, but residents want it to take more proactive, short-term steps.

“The fair and just thing would be to have a 50-year plan but also a five-year plan,” Mr. Mattison said. “Let us have a thriving neighborhood now.”

Harvard has continued smaller projects in Allston, like planting trees and starting a weekly farmer’s market. But the scientists who were supposed to move into the new complex in 2011 will work elsewhere indefinitely.

Meanwhile, finding the kind of tenants that residents want for the properties along Western Avenue  like shops and cafes  remains difficult, Ms. Heenan said.

“Even if you could have convinced someone to take a chance on a coffee or a sub shop 12 months ago,” she said, “they may now be looking at economic conditions that make that all the more challenging.”

As for the neighborhood’s rat problem, Ms. Heenan said the construction was not responsible.

In Providence, where city officials are predicting close to a $50 million budget deficit next year, Mr. Cicilline has been quietly meeting with local college and university students and presenting his proposal of charging them $150 per semester. The city must close a $17 million deficit before the fiscal year ends in June.

“Look, this is a post-Obama generation,” Mr. Cicilline said. “At a time when our president is asking everyone to look in a collective way at our communities, there’s value in asking young people to make a contribution to the collective well-being of the city they are a part of.”