Cornerstone Village Cohousing is an intentional residential community of 32 households in North Cambridge in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own neighborhood.

With the acknowledgement that conflict is an inevitable part of working and living together, a plan for a conflict resolution committee was written into the bylaws, but it was disbanded many years ago and since then, Cornerstone has been without any formal means of dispute resolution. Cornerstone has contracted with HNMCP to co-design a dispute resolution process appropriate to the way its community works. The system will address structural conflict, inter-household conflict, conflict in committees, and situations where one of the parties refuses to engage in conflict resolution.

Our Work

• Interviews to learn about the nature and history of conflict at Cornerstone as well as understand how the community works and what it values.
• Focus groups for community input on the design of the dispute resolution system

Final Product

• Report identifying the kinds of conflict in the community and potential causes
• Proposal for a dispute  resolution process