Across North America, thousands of aging dams are reaching the end of their functional life, creating a complex challenge that sits at the intersection of ecological restoration, cultural heritage, and community decision-making. These aren’t just engineering problems; they’re questions about who gets to define “restoration” and whose voices shape the future of our shared landscapes.
DIALOG and the Michael Evamy Scholarship Board of Trustees are pleased to announce Jordana Polera as the recipient of the 2025 Michael Evamy Scholarship. Her thesis, Beyond the Binary: Navigating the cultural and ecological complexities of dam removals on the Grand River, demonstrates how design thinking can transform complex infrastructure decisions into transparent, inclusive community conversations.
Rather than proposing new designs, Jordana has developed an innovative approach that reexamines existing proposals through drawing, spatial analysis, and narrative tools. Her work centres on clarity and legibility, aiming to make complex public decisions more understandable, without suggesting there’s one “correct” outcome.
Using annotated diagrams, narrative maps, and visualizations that span multiple scales, Jordana translates technical information, policy documents, local histories, and Indigenous knowledge into accessible tools for public engagement. Her thesis challenges the idea of restoration as a return to a past state and instead treats it as a process of negotiation – between settler and Indigenous worldviews, heritage and adaptation, and environmental science and public imagination.
Although rooted in a specific case, the methods Jordana is developing are intended to support other communities facing similarly contested landscapes. Her work highlights the unique ability of architects to visualize and interpret complexity, and to foster more inclusive, transparent, and climate-aware conversations about our built and natural environments.
“Jordana’s thesis invites us to think more carefully about how we relate to land, history, and environmental change,” said Farah Al Amin, Associate. “Instead of offering quick answers, it helps uncover the important questions we often miss. Through clear visuals and thoughtful research, we’re excited to see how her work will show how design can help people better understand and take shared responsibility in shaping our relationship with the environment.”
“I’m incredibly grateful to receive this scholarship, which offers a platform to highlight how visual and spatial practices can intervene in complex public debates around land, water, and infrastructure,” said Jordana.
We congratulate Jordana on this achievement and look forward to following the progress of her work in the year ahead!
About the Michael Evamy Scholarship
DIALOG established the Michael Evamy Scholarship Foundation to honour the memory of Michael Evamy, a partner instrumental in building its integrated practice from 1966 to 1993. The award provides financial assistance to the selected Canadian student attending a Canadian school of architecture in the second last year of study, to undertake a research project in a field of interest and relevant to the practice of architecture.
