Nina-Marie Lister

Nina-Marie Lister is Professor in the School of Urban & Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University, Visiting Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and Senior Fellow at Massey College in Toronto. Awarded the Margolese National Design for Living Prize for her work in ecological design, Lister is a Registered Professional Planner (MCIP, RPP) trained in systems ecology, environmental science and landscape planning. Prof. Lister’s research, teaching and practice centre on the relationship between landscape infrastructure, biodiversity and ecological processes—specifically in the context of ecological design for resilience, health and well-being. At TMU, Lister founded and directs the Ecological Design Lab, a collaborative incubator for ecological design research and practice.

Her current research is funded by the Canadian Tri-Council (SSHRC) and the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS). She is co-editor of Projective Ecologies (with Chris Reed, published by Harvard University and ACTAR Press, 2014, 2020) and The Ecosystem Approach: Complexity, Uncertainty, and Managing for Sustainability (with David Waltner-Toews and the late James Kay, Columbia University Press, 2008), and author of more than 100 scholarly research & professional practice publications. These include notable contributions to Design With Nature Now (Lincoln Land Institute 2019), Nature & Cities: The Ecological Imperative in Urban Planning & Design (Lincoln 2016), Is Landscape…Essays on the Identity of Landscape (Routledge 2016), Ecological Urbanism (Harvard University with Lars Müller Publishers 2010), and Large Parks (Princeton Architectural Press 2008, winner of the J.B. Jackson Book Prize).

Her work has been featured in international critical, creative exhibitions, including the 2016 Venice Architectural Biennale as a collaborator on Canada’s entry, EXTRACTION. Lister serves the community in practice through various board appointments, including as a member of the Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel, as an advisor to the international Biophilic Cities Network and as a board member of North America’s $500M Wildlife Crossing Fund. In recognition of her international leadership in ecological design, Lister has been awarded Honourary Membership in the American Society of Landscape Architects and in the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. She has received a Canadian Green Building Council’s excellence and leadership award and was nominated among Planetizen’s Most Influential Urbanists.