LA Guest Lecture: Colleen Mercer Clarke

University of Guelph - Landscape Architecture Guest Lecture Series presents:

Colleen Mercer Clarke, MSc, MLA, PhD, FCSLA, APALA
Chair, CSLA Committee on Climate Adaptation

Lecture on “The Value of Nature in a Changing World”

Colleen Mercer Clarke, FCSLA, APALA is both an ecologist (marine and coasts) and a landscape architect with a varied career that has spanned planning and design, research, teaching and writing. Colleen has over 45 years of professional experience in environmental assessment, ecological restoration, and planning and design at scales ranging from residential to large landscapes.

With a Doctorate in Interdisciplinary Studies, and a Post-Doctorate in coastal an oceans health, Colleen’s work now focuses on advancing resilience and sustainability in a changing world. In 2012, she was appointed to the National Advisory Committee on coastal adaptation at the Climate Change Directorate of Natural Resources Canada, and was one of the primary authors for the award-winning 2016 science based assessment Canada’s Marine Coasts in a Changing Climate.

Colleen is also co-author of The Adaptation Primers. Across Canada, the threats posed by climate change present a clear and present danger to the well-being and sustainability of communities and ecosystems.  With a short 10-year window to lower greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the need to protect, enhance and sustain natural systems has become a priority of conservationists, professionals and governments.  Working across disciplines and sectors, the challenges posed by the changing environment will provide myriad opportunities to harness ingenuity, to improve resilience in society and in environments, and to transform communities into centres of well-being and sustainability. This is the both the best of times and the worst of times to be a landscape architect.

She is the 2016 Recipient of the CSLA President’s Award, 2019 Recipient of the International Federation of Landscape Architects President’s Medal and Chair, CSLA Committee on Climate Adaptation.

Lecture kindly supported by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects.  If you are interested in joining, please email Shayla Spalding, Student Guest Lecture Assistant.

Contact:  Landscape Architecture Guest Lecture Coordinator:  Nadia Amoroso, Assistant Professor.