At Toronto Metropolitan University, Lister founded and directs the Ecological Design Lab, a collaborative incubation innovator and experimental generator that aims to advance ecological design research and practice.[6] She is a member of the Toronto Metropolitan University's Urban Water Centre, where she contributes work on designing resilient green and blue infrastructure for flood-friendly cities.[7] Since 2016, her work has been funded by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant and a Graham Foundation publication grant.[8]
In her professional practice, Lister regularly collaborates with international design firms on submissions to juried competitions and exhibitions, with a particular focus on speculative and built works in metropolitan areas.[9] In 2010, she served as the Professional Advisor for the ARC International Wildlife Crossing Design Competition, which focused on creating a wildlife bridge at the Vail Pass in Colorado.[10] Her work has been featured in international exhibitions, including the 2016 Venice Architectural Biennale, where she contributed to Canada's entry, EXTRACTION, an examination of Canada's role as a global resource juggernaut. She is the curator and director of XING - (re)connecting landscapes, a permanent exhibition at the Toronto Zoo exploring the relationship between wildlife, human development, and urban infrastructure.[11]
She is the co-editor of Projective Ecologies (with Chris Reed, Harvard GSD and ACTAR Press, 2014) and The Ecosystem Approach: Complexity, Uncertainty, and Managing for Stability (with David Waltner-Toews and James Kay, Columbia University Press, 2008).[12] In addition to authoring over 100 professional and scholarly articles, including contributions to Design With Nature Now (Lincoln Land Institute, 2019), Nature & Cities: The Ecological Imperative in Urban Planning & Design (Lincoln Land Institute, 2016), Is Landscape…Essays on the Identity of Landscape (Routledge, 2016), Ecological Urbanism (Harvard GSD with Lars Müller Publishers, 2010), and Large Parks (Princeton Architectural Press, 2008, winner of the J.B. Jackson Book Prize), Lister has served as guest editor of the Journal of Ecological Restoration.[13]
Lister was awarded an honorary membership in the American Society of Landscape Architects in recognition of her international leadership in ecological design.[14][15] She was also named Senior Scholar with the Centre for Humans and Nature in 2012, and a Senior Fellow of Massey College in 2021.[16]
- Projective Ecologies (with Chris Reed. Harvard and ACTAR Press, 2014)
- The Ecosystem Approach: Complexity, Uncertainty, and Managing for Stability (with David Waltner-Toews and James Kay. Columbia University Press, 2008)
