Nina-Marie Lister is Professor and Graduate Director at the School of Urban Regional Planning and Director, Ecological Design Lab at Ryerson University.
A Registered Professional Planner (MCIP, RPP) with a background in resource management, ecology and environmental planning, Lister is the founding principal of PLANDFORM, a creative studio practice exploring the relationship between landscape, ecology, and urbanism. Her research, teaching and practice focus on the confluence of landscape infrastructure and ecological processes within contemporary metropolitan regions. Through this, she has developed three streams of applied research and design: adaptive ecological design for ecosystem complexity and biodiversity conservation; parklands and waterfronts in post-industrial landscapes; and urban food systems and productive/edible landscapes.
In her professional practice, Lister is a frequent collaborator with international design firms in juried competitions and exhibitions involving both built and speculative works in metropolitan landscapes. Her work has been featured in exhibitions shown at the Canadian Center for Architecture in Montréal, the Chicago Architecture Foundation, the Toronto Design Exchange and the Van Alen Institute in New York. In 2010, she served as the Professional Advisor to the ARC International Design Competition which developed innovative designs for a wildlife crossing structure in Colorado.
In addition to Visiting Appointments at Harvard and Toronto, Prof. Lister has lectured widely in ecological design and landscape planning including (e.g.) at the University of California Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, University of Arizona, the University of Texas (Austin), the Swedish Agricultural University, Copenhagen University, Leibniz Universität Hannover (Germany), University of Göteburg (Sweden), Griffith University (Brisbane, AUS) and RMIT (Melbourne, AUS). At Ryerson University, Professor Lister teaches landscape and planning studios, research methods, ecological design, applied urban ecology, and landscape urbanism. She is a founding faculty member of the School’s graduate programme in Planning (Urban Development). Prof. Lister has received a Canada Mortgage + Housing Corporation Excellence in Education Award for outstanding educational contribution to sustainable practices, and in 2012 she was named Senior Scholar with the Centre for Humans and Nature.
