Featured Reports

  • Western Massachusetts Wind Energy Symposium Workshop Report
    , Roopali Phadke, Brianna Besch, Ava Buchanan, Natalie Camplair

    In partnership with Macalester College, this report analyzes the Massachusetts Wind Energy Symposium, which sought to encourage public deliberation about wind energy development. Participants provided guidance to decision makers about public perceptions of opportunities, impacts, and project design preferences. The symposium also explored how a deliberative process could build consensus and influence wind energy development practices.

  • Corporate and Community Engagement in the Niger Delta: Lessons Learned from Chevron Nigeria Limited’s GMOU Process
    Merrick Hoben, David Plumb , David Kovick, Justin Wright

    This case study seeks to draw lessons from a large-scale and ongoing community engagement process involving Chevron Nigeria Ltd. (CNL) and hundreds of communities impacted by its onshore operations in the Niger Delta. In the wake of a violent inter-ethnic crisis in 2003, CNL — the third largest oil producer in Nigeria — dramatically reshaped its community engagement strategy, with CBI's help.

  • How Congress Seeks, Processes, and Legislates Complex Science and Technology Issues
    Patrick Field , Peter S. Adler, Jeremy Kranowitz

    In 2007 and 2008, The Keystone Center and the Consensus Building Institute conducted a series of interviews of current and past Members of Congress and their senior staff, to better understand how Congress accesses information on complex scientific and technological issues that may require legislation or regulation. This report is an assessment of the Congressional interviews and the resulting recommendations.

  • Addressing the Land Claims of Indigenous Peoples
    Lawrence Susskind , Isabelle Anguelovski

    In this paper, the authors explore 14 cases of indigenous land claims, concentrating on the strategies that these First Nations have pursued and the responses they have received from the dominant cultures that surround them.

Western Massachusetts Wind Energy Symposium Workshop Report

Roopali Phadke, Brianna Besch, Ava Buchanan, Natalie Camplair

In partnership with Macalester College, this report analyzes the Massachusetts Wind Energy Symposium, which sought to encourage public deliberation about wind energy development. Participants provided guidance to decision makers about public perceptions of opportunities, impacts, and project design preferences. The symposium also explored how a deliberative process could build consensus and influence wind energy development practices.

Corporate and Community Engagement in the Niger Delta: Lessons Learned from Chevron Nigeria Limited’s GMOU Process

Merrick Hoben, David Plumb , David Kovick, Justin Wright

This case study seeks to draw lessons from a large-scale and ongoing community engagement process involving Chevron Nigeria Ltd. (CNL) and hundreds of communities impacted by its onshore operations in the Niger Delta. In the wake of a violent inter-ethnic crisis in 2003, CNL — the third largest oil producer in Nigeria — dramatically reshaped its community engagement strategy, with CBI's help.

Using Dispute Resolution Techniques to Address Environmental Justice Concerns: Case Studies

Lawrence Susskind , Gregg P. Macey

This report contains six case studies that point to the growing use of “alternative dispute resolution” approaches within environmental justice communities, and illustrates the varying results achieved through these means.

Assessing the State of Conflict Assessment

Todd Schenk

CBI reviewed over 40 conflict assessment reports from around the world on behalf of an organization hoping to advance public sector dispute resolution in Japan. Our study revealed a wide variety of approaches to conflict assessment.

How Congress Seeks, Processes, and Legislates Complex Science and Technology Issues

Patrick Field , Peter S. Adler, Jeremy Kranowitz

In 2007 and 2008, The Keystone Center and the Consensus Building Institute conducted a series of interviews of current and past Members of Congress and their senior staff, to better understand how Congress accesses information on complex scientific and technological issues that may require legislation or regulation. This report is an assessment of the Congressional interviews and the resulting recommendations.

Responding to the Risks Posed by Climate Change: Cities Have No Choice But to Adapt

Lawrence Susskind

Adaptation planning for cities, in particular, should be viewed as a collective risk management task. This monograph covers new tools for collaboration such as scenario planning, joint fact-finding and the use of role-play simulations to build public support in the face of high levels of uncertainty and complexity.

Addressing the Land Claims of Indigenous Peoples

Lawrence Susskind , Isabelle Anguelovski

In this paper, the authors explore 14 cases of indigenous land claims, concentrating on the strategies that these First Nations have pursued and the responses they have received from the dominant cultures that surround them.

Mediating Land Use Disputes: Pros and Cons

Lawrence Susskind , Mieke van der Wansem, Armando Ciccarelli

Based on the results of a national study involving 100 communities around the united states that utilized assisted negotiation in an attempt to resolve local land use disputes, this report examines the pros and cons of pursuing such processes in what is becoming an increasingly complex political environment.

Using Assisted Negotiation to Settle Land Use Disputes: a Guidebook for Public Officials

This Guidebook may help you learn how other communities and regional agencies throughout the United States are approaching these kinds of land use disputes in a new way.

Cognitive Barriers in the Land Use Planning Process

This paper considers psychological barriers—both cognitive barriers and construal biases— that affect the productive, “rational” consideration of plans and proposals in participatory land use decision-making.

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