Jennifer Cutbill

Bachelor of Arts in Art History, University of Calgary, 2001
Master of Architecture, University of British Columbia, 2011

I am a registered architect, regenerative practitioner, mother, aunt, daughter, and unsettled settler of mixed European descent, living uninvited on unceded lands of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. I run my practice (Lateral Agency), sit on various committees, and have taught in Masters of Architecture and Engineering Leadership programs; but I’ve returned to pursue a PhD to better understand and support transformative changes required in the development of critical infrastructures (and the worldviews, knowledge and value systems underpinning them) to address compound crises of climate, biodiversity, health equity, eco-social justice..and the decolonizing these require. And, what this means and requires of me as a settler on stolen Indigenous lands.

I hope that, through this work, collaborators and I can grow capabilities, capacities, connections, and other enabling infrastructures‚ to equip better those developing critical infrastructures in ways that nurture climate justice, planetary health, Indigenous rights, and together, mutual flourishing.

Recognizing that compound crises of planetary health (climate, biodiversity, health equity, etc.) are interdependent, and that critical infrastructures are a critical site of transformative intervention; my research explores the regenerative transformation of critical infrastructures necessary to empower planetary health equity, justice, Indigenous rights, mutual flourishing‚and the decolonizing these require.

Preliminary causal analysis identifies key leverage points for transformative innovation as:

• related to value/s – both the values held by key actors as the basis for establishing core goals and objectives (rooted in worldviews) and the indicators/metrics (and underpinning methods and mental models) used to evaluate successful efforts towards them
• greatest upstream (i.e. in pre-design‚ stages: including project definition, business case development, implementation planning and upstream policy); and
• necessitating transformation at and across internal, interpersonal and institutional levels

Given this complexity, my approaches are:

• transdisciplinary (spanning architecture, planning, policy, engineering, land/ resource management, law, governance, and political ecology);
• rooted in place-based transformative innovation praxes (including systemic design, regenerative development, cumulative impact assessment, integrative and relational* project delivery, ecosystem-based co-management/co-governance, and well-being economics);
• applied and inclusive (using participatory action research and co-design methods with key actors in real-world contexts including regional governments and health authorities); centering decolonizing, anti-oppressive and developmental methodologies

The aim is to support the implementation and continuous improvement of regenerative approaches to the planning, design and delivery of critical infrastructures; in ways that empower the internal, interpersonal and institutional transformations required; so that communities can leverage investments in critical infrastructures to meaningfully empower planetary health equity, justice, Indigenous rights and ultimately mutual flourishing of all relations – now and for future generations.

*Note: “relational project delivery” was shared with me by Danilo Caron. While others have used the concept, he is deepening it through the lens of Indigenous knowledges in his PhD work.

Warren George Povey Award in Global Health
President’s Award for Academic Excellence, University of British Columbia

infrastructure, regenerative, planetary-health, justice, decolonizing;

Cutbill, J. (2022) Towards an Indigenous-Led Cumulative Effects Framework. UBC Sustainability Scholars Project for the Salish Sea Indigenous Guardians Association.

Cutbill J, Lalande A, Paczka Giorgi L, Devitt K, Janousek S. (2024) Food Infrastructures for Planetary Health Playbook (2024) CASCADES (Creating a Sustainable Canadian Health System in a Climate Crisis) Playbook.