Opinions & Assumptions

I began my own personal set of exercises to engage the project as an initiation phase.

I gathered some primary opinions about Dominion Road at night time in an informal manner, through conversations with my family, friends and also with social media in the form of Facebook and Twitter. The most “interesting” findings from these honest comments was a true community appreciation of the street’s diversity, culture and history, yet there was also negative feedback regarding traffic congestion. Seems to be a little Love – Hate Relationship from anyone who lives in or visits the area regularly

Next I began my own Assumption Mapping exercise following the initial class group effort and what research I had done. I focussed more laterally to think about Auckland Transport in general and include the assumptions I have based on my experiences travelling around Auckland – but in the context of Dominion Road.

I found a few key themes:

-Crime and street safety i.e. vandalism, drunken behaviour and theft – stereotypical of a congested and diverse area

-Inferior perception of transport shelters regarding weather and effectiveness

-Not being able to easily plan routes and knowing where to find points of interest at the location

-Pain of boredom or discomfort travelling on public transport alone or with luggage.

Following this I filled a page full of questions I would like to know about Dominion Road - thinking "What is missing?" - following the same themes of interest found in my Assumption Map. I categorised my questions into Behavioural, Attitudinal, and Environmental content I would look to answer when visiting or further researching Dominion Road