UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Department of Landscape Architecture in the College of Arts and Architecture’s Stuckeman School at Penn State has named Nina-Marie Lister, a leading landscape architecture practitioner focused on advancing designs for green infrastructure, the recipient of the 2024-25 John R. Bracken Fellowship.
Currently a professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), Lister was awarded the Margolese National Design for Living Prize by the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture for her work in ecological design. She is a registered professional planner trained in systems ecology, environmental science and landscape planning.
As part of her role as the 2024-25 John R. Bracken Fellow, Lister will deliver a keynote lecture during the Stuckeman School’s 2025 Research Symposium on March 3 in the HUB-Robeson Center, Heritage Hall.
Lister’s research, teaching and practice center on the relationship between landscape infrastructure, biodiversity and ecological processes—specifically in the context of ecological design for biodiversity recovery, climate resilience and human well-being. At TMU, she 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 and the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development.
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). She has authored more than 100 scholarly research and professional practice publications, including notable contributions to "Design with Nature Now," "Nature & Cities: The Ecological Imperative in Urban Planning & Design", "Is Landscape…Essays on the Identity of Landscape," and "Ecological Urbanism and Large Parks," winner of the J.B. Jackson Book Prize.
Lister’s work has been featured in international critical, creative exhibitions, including the 2016 Venice Architectural Biennale as a collaborator on Canada’s entry, “EXTRACTION.” She serves the community through various board appointments, including as a member of the Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel, an advisor to the international Biophilic Cities Network and a board member of North America’s $500 million Wildlife Crossing Fund.
In recognition of her international leadership in ecological design, Lister has been awarded honorary memberships in the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. She has earned a Canadian Green Building Council’s excellence and leadership award and was nominated among Planetizen’s "Most Influential Urbanists."