Web-Based Conflict Research Tutorials

The Request:

Imagine that you are about to graduate, with a degree in geography and environmental studies, from a well-respected Ivy League university on the East Coast. You have established quite a reputation for your recent research project on the effects of population growth on local communities and the environment, and have worked closely with one of the foremost scholars on urban sprawl and development in the country. As a result, the State of Colorado is seeking out your advice on what to do about the rapid and profound growth incurred by the region over the past 20 or 30 years. They would like you to move to Colorado and begin working on a plan to find a mutually beneficial solution to these conflicts.

The conflict centers around a few central issues and positions. First, you have planners, environmentalists, and community-minded residents who feel that the rapid and relatively unplanned growth is creating problems for the local community. With residential and commercial growth comes increased traffic flow, pollution, and highway construction. Additionally, the historic, small-town community feel of many regions is becoming displaced by large chain shopping centers and sprawling parking lots. These individuals feel that growth and sprawl is threatening the quality of life in the community by stripping away what makes the region unique, and by threatening the environmental amenities that make the region such a nice place to live.

On the other side, you have builders, property owners, and land use advocates who feel that growth is not necessarily a bad thing. It brings in a tremendous amount of new commerce and adds favorably to the local economy when new businesses and housing complexes are added to the area. Additionally, many of these individuals feel that the land should be open to be used in any way that the owners see fit, and that the government should not be able to mandate zoning laws or restrictions. Many of the long-time residents living in the rural areas surrounding urban growth boundaries feel like they have lived in the region too long and have worked too hard for their land to be told what they can or cannot do with it. The conflict centers around these two general groups, and their competing visions of how to best manage Colorado's growth.

Because you've established yourself as a budding expert in the field, the Colorado State Planning Commission is seeking your advice about settling a number of conflicts related to growth and urban sprawl along the Front Range region of the Rocky Mountains. Although you are an expert in growth and sprawl, you know very little about the field of conflict resolution. And, since you grew up and live on the East Coast, you know very little about the people, history, culture, or demographics of the region. It looks like you are going to have to do a little background research before they ship you off to Colorado!

Before you pack your bags (and snowshoes), it would probably work to your advantage if you investigated multiple aspects of the conflict and setting in which you would be working. To adequately prepare yourself for your new research, and to see if this is a setting in which you would like to live and work, it would be useful if you found out a little bit about the State Government of Colorado (its goals, values, objectives), the conflict (its history, context, and current status), and the region or setting of the conflict (the region's history, demographics, economy, culture). It would also be useful to ask yourself certain questions to make sure that your own goals and values correspond to the work you would be doing in Colorado, and to ensure that your work would help rather than hinder the conflict situation. The following list is a sample of the types of questions you may want to ask yourself and others about the conflict resolution efforts taking place in Colorado (see Table 1).

Your First Assignment - Preliminary Web Research:

• Go to Google, Yahoo!, or a similar general search engine site.
• Begin searching the Internet to find Web pages and websites that will assist you in answering some or all of the questions listed in Table 1.
• Are these general search engines useful in finding the information you are looking for? What types of problems did you encounter in your search?

When finished, you are ready to move on the next page. If you want to return to the main Web Assignments page, click here.