Front Lawns, Biodiversity & Bylaws: Nina-Marie Lister

This week, Monica and Jennifer sit down with Nina-Marie Lister, Graduate Director and Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University, located in Toronto, Canada. Building off of her captivating presentation at last month’s Biophilic Leadership Summit, Nina-Marie lays out the little-known history of the front lawn’s hold on North American households, the barriers for achieving greater biodiversity on private property, and the city bylaws that prioritize conformity over environmental health. 

Nina-Marie holds the Margolese National Design for Living Prize for her work in ecology and design and she was awarded honorary membership in the American Society of Landscape Architects. Her work connects people to nature in cities, through green infrastructure design for climate resilience, biodiversity and human wellbeing.

Show Notes

• About Nina-Marie Lister (School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University)
• Ecological Design Lab
• PLANDFORM
• Projective Ecologies: Ecology, Research, and Design in the Climate Age, edited by Chris Reed and Nina-Marie Lister

• The Ecosystem Approach: Complexity, Uncertainty, and Managing for Sustainability (Complexity in Ecological Systems) by by David Waltner-Toews, James Kay, and Nina-Marie Lister

• The Well-Placed Weed: The Bountiful Life of Ryan Gainey, a film by Steve Branford and Cooper Sanchez
• Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast, A Field Guide by Peter Del Tredici 
• Landscape Citizenships, edited by Tim Waterman, Jane Wolff, and Ed Wall

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