Contact
Assistant Professor
Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment
University of Waterloo
Brent is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo, and Principal Investigator of the Retreating from Risk project. Brent has over 15 years experience researching a broad array of climate change adaptation themes.
Through Brent's connection with the International Development Research Centre-funded Coastal Cities at Risk (2011-2016) project, he was involved in studies of managed retreat in coastal megacities, and examined the associated issues of social vulnerability to climate change. Brent's 2012 research on global guidelines related to climate relocation and resettlement grew into a larger multi-case research program on managed retreat for Canadian flood risk reduction. In 2020, Doberstein was project co-lead on a Natural Resources Canada Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Division project which profiled several past cases of MR across Canada, and identified good practices related to proactive planned retreat for climate adaptation.
Brent is currently the Faculty of Environment liaison on a $15.75M CDN Global Affairs Canada-funded project, “FINCAPES: Flood Impacts, Carbon Pricing, and Ecosystem Sustainability,” which is helping Indonesia develop climate action capacity.
Brent's research experience also includes the following:
- A Global Resilience Partnership project on “Development of Amphibious Homes for Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations in Vietnam” project (2017-2018)
- A Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funded project entitled “Linking Tourism, Social/Cultural Capital, and Disaster Recovery: Comparative Perspectives From Nepal, Indonesia, and the Philippines” (2020-2025)
- The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions’ “Coastal Adaptation: Living with Water” project (2021-2025).
Select Publications
- Cottar, S., Henstra, D., Thistlethwaite, J., Doberstein, B., & Wandel, J. (2025). Navigating land use after managed retreat: Decisions facing local governments in the post-buyout environment. Environmental Hazards.
- Cross, B., Doberstein, B., & Lueck, V. (2025). Improving economic assessment and decision-making for managed retreat through CBA+: A targeted literature review. Frontiers in Climate 7.
- Cross, B., Doberstein, B., & Lueck, V. (2024). Economic assessment and decision-making for community-led managed retreat in British Columbia: Approaches, challenges, and case studies of cost-benefit analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis. Living with Water project.
- Doberstein, B., Cottar, S., Wong, B., Anagnostou, M., & Hamilton, S. (2021). Government-sponsored home buyout programs and post-flood decisions to retreat: Case studies in Constance Bay, Ontario and Pointe Gatineau, Quebec. Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.
- Cottar, S., Henstra, D., Thistlethwaite, J., Doberstein, B., & Wandel, J. (2025). Navigating land use after managed retreat: Decisions facing local governments in the post-buyout environment. Environmental Hazards.
- Saunders-Hastings, P., Barnard, M., & Doberstein, B. (2020). Planned retreat approaches to support resilience to climate change in Canada. Natural Resources Canada. Ottawa: Canada.
- Doberstein, B., Tagdell, A., & Rutledge, A. (2020). Managed retreat for climate change adaptation in coastal megacities: A comparison of policy and practice in Manila and Vancouver. Journal of Environmental Management 253.
- Doberstein, B., Fitzgibbons, J., & Mitchell, C. (2019). Protect, accommodate, retreat or avoid (PARA): Canadian community options for flood disaster risk reduction and flood resilience. Natural Hazards 78.
- Doberstein, B. (2019). Alternatives to long distance resettlement for urban informal settlements affected by disaster and climate change. KnE Social Sciences.
- Tagdell, A., Doberstein, B., & Mortsch, L. (2017). Principles for climate-related resettlement of informal settlements in less developed nations: a review of resettlement literature and institutional guidelines. Climate & Development 10 (2).