Dutch Dialogues in Norfolk

Norfolk is hosting the Dutch Dialogues Virginia: Life at Sea Level, the workshop that gathered experts on urban water management, from engineers to planners, to discuss, discover and design ideas and solutions for the future.

Dutch Dialogues workshops are the latest component of the long history and friendship between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United States, and more recently between the Netherlands, Louisiana and Virginia.

Dutch Dialogues, this year from June 19 to 23, include approaches to integrated water management that have been acquired over centuries of living with water and have been adapted and applied, in part, in post-Katrina New Orleans.

These concepts are being shared to address water problems in American cities such as flooding, poor water quality, sea level rise and land subsidence.

Workshop participants will look for ways to:

  • Reduce the impacts of both catastrophic and recurrent flooding;
  • Take advantage of riverfronts, shorelines and stream alignments to improve water quality, reduce flooding and improve ecosystems;
  • Naturalize engineered storm water systems;
  • Revitalize and redevelop urban waterfronts and nearby communities;
  • Re-establish links between natural systems and neighborhoods via parks and other amenities;
  • Stimulate redevelopment, tax base and economic opportunities;
  • Supplement ,where possible, hardscape with permeable surfaces;
  • Mitigate impacts of future sea level rise and increased storm surge;
  • Explore how existing sand nourishment, dune protection, and shoreline improvements can contribute to beachfront communities.

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