Identify features of the conflict that you may not currently be seeing.

This is a difficult task, because it requires you to temporarily remove your particular lenses and view the conflict as other parties may see it. By viewing the conflict through the eyes of others, you will achieve a greater appreciation for your own framing of the conflict.

• What is your role in the conflict (citizen, planner, legislator, activist, etc.)?

Try to take an opposing role and see how that person would view and respond to the conflict.

• What do you see differently? Why?
• What interest groups do you most closely identify with (environmental, civil rights, business and industry, government, homeowners, old-timers, newcomers)?
• What are your political values (liberal, conservative, radical, moderate)?
• How would other groups view the conflict?

Reflect, for a moment, on these competing views.

• Do any of the competing perspectives make sense?
• Could a reasonable person believe or think differently based on their social status, institutional power, or upbringing?
• Now that you have tried to view a larger set of perspectives of the conflict, do you better understand why you believe as you do?