Meet Our Team Member: John Bailey
For the last month and a half, MAGNA has focused on showcasing our intention when it comes to environmental design. It is so important to us because we know that our nature-based design can become the cornerstone of any community, if they are designed well.
One of the key members of our team is John Bailey, one of our environmental designers who treats each design with care and attention.
This month, we are highlighting his incredible work and his purposeful approach to nature-based design in an exclusive interview.
Could you describe your role at MAGNA and how it contributes to the mission?
This is tricky – my primary role is to provide design services, consultation, advise and planning related to all things environmental at MAGNA. In practice, this looks like day-to-day design and plant selections for our sites—moving from concept level discussions and meetings into detail designs of our systems—then providing oversight and direction during construction, and finally, monitoring and observing sites once they are constructed to ensure our systems are working well. Every step involves contemplating and considering the impact of integrating pipes, structures, pumps, and roads with the appropriate materials, plants, and site design to ensure we can achieve really interesting, vibrant spaces that offer habitat for plants and animals while also dealing with stormwater and wastewater needs – hopefully in a way that the average person doesn’t even realize anything is being done at all. Besides my amazing job as a designer and plant philosopher, I also provide support to my team in different ways—from being a Fire Warden to the co-chair of the health and safety committee to providing psychological health and safety help wherever possible. I attempt to share my enthusiasm and skills with the team constantly, and I believe that my values align closely with those of MAGNA, which leads well into providing some sort of an example of how we can walk the talk around doing good work, in a good way, with a great team.
How long have you been working in this field, and what keeps you motivated?
My field looks more like a really big garden, and I’ve been working in the garden since I was in my teens. Let’s say that is over 20 years ago now, but I have always had a drive and curiosity for natural systems, plant communities, and the interaction (and responsibility) humans have with (and to) the natural world. I started landscaping and helping elders around the community with their gardens and yards, before developing more awareness of the diversity within the natural world and how I could be an agent of change/increasing that diversity through my practice. I am constantly reminded of the value and need for this work, and what keeps me motivated is seeing the outcomes, the interactions, and the many opportunities to make things better through advocating for and designing spaces that focus on diverse, healthy and beautiful natural communities.
What aspects of your educational background prepared you for working with environmental infrastructure?
It has been varied, and it has served me well in preparing for this role. My background includes working in the field on ecological and landscape construction work; supervisory and operational experience running crews and companies; research into best practices in numerous areas; advocacy for policy change, both personally and professionally; and involvement with community and industry groups that share my values and aims.My actual degrees—a Bachelor in Psychology, which set me up to better understand and support my team and co‑workers, as well as understand how people perceive and interact with environments; and a Master’s in EVDS, which provided me with a depth and breadth of experience and know—how beyond my fieldwork, into urban design, planning, and other aspects of environmental design, and so on—have scaffolded my growth into my current role. Professional development in areas such as sustainable and ecological design, developing consensus and fostering collaboration, as well as community advocacy around food sovereignty have also contributed a great deal to my skills and experience. I would say that my varied and considerable experience has been fundamental in supporting not only my technical skills, but also my team building and project management work. Being able to consider an issue from various perspectives is so valuable, and my experiences have provided me with a many-eyed lens to view our work.
What would you consider your primary areas of technical expertise within our industry?
I would confidently say that my area of expertise is at the nexus of environmental design (plants, materials, landforms and grading), ecological design (understanding natural systems and fostering their success), social systems, and design approaches. I also have a solid grasp on policy and policy implications, and I can provide valuable collaboration and project support to ensure best outcomes. Technically, I can design spaces to meet any provincial or municipal requirements, while also keeping in mind what is required from an ecological perspective and consider the varied values and needs of the interested parties I am working with. Simply, I can help bring together different perspectives, values, requirements, guidelines, and best practices to figure out tricky problems using a good number of plants and strong focus on collaboration.
More specifically – site visits and assessments, consultation, design services from concept to detail, project and team management, site supervision, drawing and basic drafting, community engagement, coordination, resource creation, research and policy advocacy, plant selection consultation and design, other things of this nature.
What initially sparked your passion for nature-based solutions in infrastructure?
When I realized that we could solve everyday problems in a way that used less resources, that was more closely aligned with natural systems and forms, and that was something that moved past just meeting a need into something that provided additional services and spaces. It sort of captures your imagination, you know? Using nature to provide for our needs as humans is how it all started, when you think about it. What we are trying to do is bring it back to how human systems first interacted with nature, while emphasizing how many more ways there are to integrate nature into infrastructure given modern capabilities and technologies. Every day I learn more and I am inspired by my talented peers and mentors in this field, and it fuels my imagination. How else can we integrate nature into infrastructure, and indeed all aspects of our modern lives?
Can you describe 2-3 innovative solutions you've helped develop or implement?
Actively aerated compost tea – this was in my old landscaping days. My mentor, Laureen Rama, was very innovative and worked hard with people around the world to attempt to use natural approaches and systems to resolve common problems (kind of sounds like nature-based solutions, hey?). She developed a service where we would “brew” actively aerated compost tea which we would then drive around the city and use as a foliar application on people’s gardens/yards/farms to increase biological activity, provide nutrients and support, and help distressed plants recover. Very cool, very fun days out, good success, and only mildly repugnant in smell. I helped her implement and refine the “tea” recipe itself, the process of brewing, the process of applying, as well as technical support with the mechanical aspects of the pump.
Nautilus Pond® (NP) – With Cory Albers (Source2Source Inc.) and our design team at MAGNA. I’ve been involved in the design of numerous NPs for our sites, including a new design—one that uses willows in place of flow dissipation blocks to provide core function as well as to emulate natural spaces and processes. The Salix Cribs could be a way to provide high-flow energy relief using nothing more than plant material, which also provides all of the environmental benefits while looking pretty cool. Being part of a team that has applied and refined the NP design and approach has been inspiring. One extension of the NP work I really am proud of is using ravine-like spillways (again, biomimicry) based on river patterns to connect our NP to the rest of our pond/site, in a way that looks almost naturally occurring. The idea is that, during low-flow events, the lower ravine would flow— whereas a benched, higher ravine would support high-flow events—like the Bow River does.
What personal interests or hobbies inform your professional perspective?
The overlap is real! Plants, nature, observing systems, detail recognition, pattern recognition, detail-focused design tasks (drawing, drafting), collaborating, solving problems, being more integrated with nature, lower impact (bad impact), bringing joy and peace to people. Hiking, building, working with my hands, sketching out ideas, iterating on ideas alone or with a group, sharing ideas and developing new things, being creative, having fun—it all overlaps.
How do you envision sustainable community development evolving in Western Canada?
I think that, along with (and reflected in) the rise of master-planned communities, there will be a recognition of the need and value for integrated, multi-functional spaces that emphasize nature-based approaches and solutions—across both new or established neighbourhoods and communities. More people are expecting something like a livable community, a walkable community—and rightfully so. It reflects a sustainable mindset in the residents of the community, and maybe more importantly it removes obstacles to the types of behaviours that allow people to live and work in a sustainable fashion. More and more we will see people, municipalities, community groups, and builders all considering how to be more sustainable and then demanding it. It is something that is important for a variety of reasons, which means that various actors will engage with the issue from different value positions: it is more economical, it is better for the environment, it is more socially acceptable, etc.
Beyond a push for more overall sustainable development, people will be asking for amenities: parks and playgrounds, sure, but also spaces to connect with nature, places to explore, places to grow food, and places to share. Multi-use spaces will be more and more expected, and with that there will be even more expectation for better and better design in those spaces. That doesn’t mean complex either—I think the future of ecologically informed design will highlight and design around regional ecosystems and plant communities, and how to best integrate our human/living spaces into and with the natural systems we value. And, I think, will be forced to value more as move into the future.
What types of projects are you most passionate about working on right now?
Is it bad to say all of them? I really like parts of all of our projects: designing multi-tiered spill pools and connecting creeks, or refining our plant lists to more regionally appropriate, or creating long wide wetlands filled with a diversity of plants. Finding new ways to refine our site grading to be even more supportive of natural conditions and interesting moments for visitors (human and non-human alike). Thinking about how little frogs and salamanders could make their home in this part of the park, if I just figure it out and design it… just… right. And knowing all of our work is a quick sniff compared to the forces of nature, and our sites will begin to change as soon as we stop touching them. So, long answer short—I am excited for the projects, passionate even, that will start from my best efforts and turn into something beyond my imagination. Pond C, if it is built to design, could be one of those. Starling. Heartwood. They all have pieces of wild nature woven into them. I’m excited to see what they become.
Could you share a moment when you realized the positive impact of your work?
My kiddo. Running around one of our sites last summer, looking and exploring and finding all of the things. Finding wonder and awe in our park, in our wetland, on one of our big boulders. Finding that sense of connection and then running over to share it all with us. Telling others about it. Not because I helped to design it—but because there were little plants, and big bugs, and willows, and long grass, and running water. And knowing that, even if we get it all a bit wrong, mostly right is more than enough. And we are getting it—AT LEAST—mostly right, according to my kiddo.
Are there any recent innovations or approaches in our field that particularly excite you?
Again, this could be a long list—but a lot of the nature-based perspective speaks to me, as does the biomimicry approach. Our vertical flow biofilter, and treatment wetlands, are examples of that biomimicry—Cory Albers (Source2Source) is fond of saying that engineers love sensors and want to put 1,000 into a device, acclaiming the data and the possibilities for monitoring. Whereas there exist sensors, trillions of them, already dispatched via tiny organisms, whose very survival depends on their ability to respond to and even act on water and soil conditions. Our work is an example of deploying those organisms, in a system that is analogous to where they might live “in the wild”, to clean water—but here, where it is needed, in the community. As part of a larger system, attempting to emulate a simplified watershed of sorts, which is in itself an act of biomimicry.
I also really love silva/soil cells (for trees), native perennial turf (see Eagle Lake for that, so cool—I want to see wetland plants in a turf format, or something similar), rainways coming into vogue (see St. George rainway in Vancouver), treated water for irrigation (especially for urban agriculture—come on, how cool is that!), and bioswales/raingardens everywhere.
How are you personally trying to push beyond traditional infrastructure approaches?
I’m not. I’m trying to push landscape and environmental design, and ecological perspectives, beyond their niche INTO infrastructure. I don’t know much about traditional infrastructure, but I do know about how plants and rocks can provide some similar functions in certain contexts and look way better and have more birds too.
What's your philosophy on creating custom designs for clients versus using standardized approaches?
Every design will have a custom element, but it should be built on a base of standardized approaches and recognized best practices. Going too far either way invites chaos. That said, any design needs to consider the variety of contexts within which it will sit and appropriately connect to them in different ways. Creativity can apply to design in different ways, from interpreting that connection to context, to the selection of materials, to the theme of the underlying approach – so there is always a chance for some room for creativity, and any move to standardize approaches must also make room (somewhat paradoxically) for the chaos of creative energy. When that is baked into your process, every project will be some combination of both standardized approaches and creative, custom work.
How do you approach working with different types of key interested parties on a project?
I try and figure out what they value, what their experience is that brought them to their perspective and attempt to establish some common ground or common language as a starting point. Allow everyone to see the other as someone similar, identify shared values, speak to those values and not positions, and try to keep the dynamic such that everyone can be heard and can have agency in the project. Don’t try to shift someone’s position through coercion or bad faith actions—speak to their values and provide context and recognize where the firm boundaries are. Whenever possible, orient yourself and the group towards a solution, and allow/mandate all members contribute or action the work according to their capacity and scope.
Do you mentor others in the field or participate in knowledge-sharing activities?
Any time and any chance I get, I will share knowledge and provide feedback. Considering myself a mentor is somewhat new, but it is something I’ve been called, so I accept it and honour it. In my previous roles, I always emphasized collaboration and knowledge sharing as fundamental parts of my work. When I worked at the University of Calgary, I was a member of a number of groups based on sharing knowledge and mobilizing it, including the Knowledge Engagement Community of Practice (KECoP), the Interdisciplinary Sustainable Agriculture Network (ISAN), and the Food Studies Interdisciplinary Research Group. At MAGNA, it is an important and really fun part of my job to share and teach others about what I do and how they can integrate it into their work. Outside of work, I also provide support and design work to community groups on an ongoing basis.
Want to see some of the projects that John has worked on? Check out:
You can also find him on Linkedin.