About Nanco Dolman

Nanco Dolman is committed to making the built environment water-robust, livable, healthy and climate-adaptive. He sees that due to urban growth, increasing resource use and the effects of climate change, flood risk is increasing in many cities and fresh water is becoming scarcer.

In 1998, Nanco graduated as a Civil Engineer from Delft University of Technology and specialized as an urban hydrologist. He also took a part of the Master’s program in Landscape Architecture at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture. He was also a part-time lecturer in Urban Water Management at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, where he still regularly gives guest lectures.

"In my projects, water is both the challenge and the solution. To restore nature and biodiversity, I prefer to link regenerative or nature-positive solutions to adaptation measures. At Deltares, I have the space to switch between practice and research at the intersection of water management, urban design and landscape planning. Moreover, I enjoy being involved in projects for longer and more structurally, thinking strategically, and thus doing my bit to achieve societal impact."

Projects

• 'Bangkok Adaptive City 2045' (Thailand)
• 'Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan' (USA)
• 'Rebuild by Design - Comprehensive Urban Water Strategy for Hoboken' (USA)
• 'Water as Leverage for Cartagena' (Colombia)

Between 2015 and 2020, Nanco was UN advocate for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's (UNDRR) 'Making Cities Resilient' campaign.

Besides cities, Nanco also worked extensively for airports. Especially at Schiphol Airport as strategic advisor Water Management. But also internationally, such as climate stress tests and risk analyses (e.g. Kansai Osaka, Vancouver), adaptation strategies (e.g. Changi Singapore) and implementation plans (e.g. Mexico City). And in the period 2021-2022, Nanco was project leader of the Global Study on Disaster Resilience for Airports, commissioned by the Coalition for Disaster Resilience Infrastructure (CDRI).

In recent years, Nanco has been involved in several international 'water and climate' studies, as an applied researcher and practitioner. Since 2020, he has been part of the editorial board of Journal Water and Climate Change.

Some of his recent articles and book contributions are:

• 'Integrating of Water Management and Urban Design for Climate Resilient Cities' (2020)
• 'Keeping Airport Open in Times of Climatic Extremes: Planning for Climate-Resilient Airports' (2021)
• 'Managing flood risk in Blue-Green Cities' (in production, expected in April 2024)
• 'Dynamic Water Resource Management for Regenerative Cities' (in production, expected 2024)