Jennifer Cutbill

I'm an unsettled settler born on the Indigenous territories of the Anishinaabe and the Haudenosaunee at the Eastern tip of the Niigaani gichigami (currently known as Lake Ontario); and I now live on the stolen Indigenous territories of the Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil Waututh) Nations with my partner and daughter in the place currently known as Vancouver - specifically in a place known in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Shichm (language) as X̱áywá7esks - a thriving intertidal community for millennia prior to colonization.

By title, I'm a registered Architect and Regenerative Practitioner (with training in systems ecology and complex adaptive systems). I was formerly the SDL for DIALOG (an integrated architecture, planning and engineering firm primarily based in Canada), and then PA+PM at Local Practice;. On the heels of the IPCC landmark report in 2018, I started Lateral Agency - to better support empowering intergenerational health by focusing on building collaborative capacity (rather than buildings directly).

Over the past 12 years I've had the pleasure of working with amazing teams on a wide range of projects, including: the University of BC Student Union Building, AIA-honors winning Crosstown Concourse block-scale community regeneration project in Memphis,TN; passive house MURBs in the lower mainland; and regenerative regional wastewater treatment infrastructure. I currently work with municipalities, regional health authorities and other organizations to help build capacity for intergenerational health equity into projects and institutions (including strategic framework development, transformative learning processes, community engagement and applied research).

Outside the office, some SCDL-related roles include: City of Vancouver's Collaborative Leadership Advisory; teaching in the Masters of Architecture, Masters of Engineering Leadership, and Masters of Public Policy and Global Affairs programs at UBC (including development of a Strategic Design for Complex Challenges micro credential); steward of the Canadian Architects Declare initiative; founding Chair of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Committee on Regenerative Environments (CORE); co-founder and chair of the Vancouver Design Foundation and its city-wide design festival. Alongside running my practice, I'm currently also pursuing a PhD - exploring natural assets as critical infrastructures, at the intersection of regenerative economics and Indigenous governance.