After studying social geography at the
VU University Amsterdam in Amsterdam, where he graduated with honors, Dieleman continued his doctoral study at the
University of Wisconsin. In 1978 he graduated from the university with a thesis entitled ""Een analyse van spreidingspatronen van vestigingen en van werkgelegenheidsgebieden in Tilburg en Eindhoven: een methodisch-technische studie" (An analysis of distribution patterns of branches and employment areas in Tilburg and Eindhoven: a methodical-technical study). Dieleman's started his academic career in 1969 at the VU University Amsterdam in the Department of Urban and Rural Geography of Western countries, which was part of the Geographic and Planning Institute of the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. Sequentially from 1981 to 2003 he was a professor in Urban and Rural Geography at the Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University. The last two years of his live he worked as Professor of Methods, Techniques and System Innovation in Spatial Planning at
Delft University of Technology. Late 1980s Dieleman and
Hugo Priemus initiated the Netherlands Graduate School for Housing and Urban Research (NETHUR) in which the universities of Utrecht, Delft and Amsterdam worked together. In 1994 it acquired the official recognition of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dieleman directed NETHUR until 1998. Later in Delft he was also affiliated with the Institute for Spatial Research. == Work ==