Nina-Marie Lister

Nina-Marie Lister is professor in the School of Urban & Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University and senior fellow at Massey College (external link)  in Toronto. From 2022-2025 she was visiting professor of landscape architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (external link) . Awarded the Margolese National Design for Living Prize (external link)  for her work in ecological design, Professor 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, Professor Lister founded and directs the Ecological Design Lab (external link)  to connect people with nature in cities.

Professor 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 (external link) . She advises the Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel (external link) , the international Biophilic Cities Network (external link)  and North America’s Wildlife Crossing Fund (external link) . In recognition of her international leadership in ecological design, Professor 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 (external link) .

Recent works:

• Article in Cities and the Environment (external link)  - Beyond the Lawn: Bylaws for Biodiversity - Evidence-Based Recommendations for Future Practice and Policy Development 
• Article in Ecology and Society (external link)  - Dimensions of integration for landscape connectivity planning: a framework for understanding challenges and opportunities.
• Article in Wildlife Society Bulletin (external link)  - 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 (external link)  - 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 (external link)  with partners at ARC (external link) 
• Landscapes of Care: Designing for an Ecology of Empathy in The Land is Full (external link) . Brad McKee (ed), 2024. Monacelli Press.
• Wild Ways 3.0 California Connectivity (external link)  via Harvard GSD (external link)   
• Toolkit and national campaign on Bylaws for Biodiversity (external link)