Nina-Marie Lister

(MENAFN- The Conversation)

• Professor, School of Urban & Regional Planning, Toronto Metropolitan University

Profile Articles

Nina-Marie Lister is (full, tenured) Professor in the School of Urban & Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University and Senior Fellow at Massey College in Toronto. From 2022-2025 she was Visiting Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Awarded the Margolese National Design for Living Prize for her work in ecological design, Lister's research, teaching and practice centre on landscape infrastructure, biodiversity and ecological processes through ecological design applications for biodiversity recovery, climate resilience, and more-than-human well-being. At TMU, Lister founded and directs the Ecological Design Lab to connect people with nature in cities.

Lister 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 150 scholarly research & professional practice publications. These include peer-reviewed articles in top-ranked journals (Ecology & Society, J. Restoration Ecology, Sustainability), 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 with Canada's entry, EXTRACTION. She advises the Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel, the international Biophilic Cities Network and North America's 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.

Recent works:
Article in Cities and the Environment - Beyond the Lawn: Bylaws for Biodiversity - Evidence-Based Recommendations for Future Practice and Policy Development
Article in Ecology and Society - Dimensions of integration for landscape connectivity planning: a framework for understanding challenges and opportunities.
Article in Wildlife Society Bulletin - Wildlife crossing database platform: A transdisciplinary approach to developing a tool for landscape connectivity planning and public engagement.
Article in Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy - Assessing the potential for legal liability to create incentives for agencies to reduce wildlife–vehicle collisions in Canada and the United States.
Beyond Safe Passages with partners at ARC
Landscapes of Care: Designing for an Ecology of Empathy in The Land is Full. Brad McKee (ed), 2024. Monacelli Press.
Wild Ways 3.0 California Connectivity via Harvard GSD
Toolkit and national campaign on Bylaws for Biodiversity

Experience

• 2020–present Professor, School of Urban & regional Planning, Toronto Metropolitan University
• 2022–2024 Visiting professor, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design
• 2005–2020 Associate professor, SURP, Toronto Metropolitan Uniiversity
• 2010–2014 Visiting associate professor, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design
• 2014–2014 Visiting associate professor, University of Toronto, Landscape Architecture

Education

• 1993 University of Waterloo, PhD (Can)
• 1992 University of Toronto, BA Hons, MSc (Pl), PhD (Can)

Publications

• 2026 SEE MY CV,

Grants and Contracts

• 2026 Leading with Landscape Role: SSHRC Funding Source:
• 2025 Urban Landscape Connectivity Role: ARC Funding Source:
• 2021 Systems Design for MAASA Role: FORMAS Funding Source:
• 2020 Beyond Safe Passages Role: SSHRC Funding Source:
• 2019 Pooled Fund for Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Role: FHWA Funding Source:
• 2015 Safe Passages Role: SSHRC Funding Source:
• 2005 Barrier and Bridges / Social Capital for Sustainability Role: SSHRC Funding Source:

Professional Memberships

• Ontario Professional Planners Institute
• Canadian Institute of Planners
• American Society of Landscape Architects (Honourary)
• Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (Honourary)

Honours

Hon. ASLA, Hon. OALA, Hon. CSLA

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