Michael Sherman

Adjunct Lecturer - SCS MPS - Urban & Regional Planning Program

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Michael A. Sherman is an urban planner, designer, and retired U.S. Army Colonel whose career sits at the intersection of planning, commemoration, design, technology, public policy, and the implementation of large-scale civic and federal projects.

Bio and Featured Works

Mike currently supports the US Department of State, Overseas Building Office as a Senior Planning contractor with planning, real estate, design and capital planning expertise. He has held senior leadership roles at the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), where he directed long-range planning, urban design policy, and intergovernmental studies shaping Washington, DC as a national capital and complex metropolitan region. Mike has worked in private firms and at the state, federal local level in the public sector. He was a GIS manager with the Massachusetts Port Authority and taught GIS and planning technology at the university level. His work examines how planning institutions negotiate federal–local governance, land ownership, symbolic landscapes, and infrastructure resilience over long time horizons.

Mr. Sherman has led or contributed to nationally significant urban design and planning efforts, including the Washington, DC Height Master Plan, Beyond Granite National Mall curated commemoration exhibition, the Federal Workplace Scenario Study, the Extending the Legacy framework, and major redevelopment initiatives such as the Southeast Federal Center. His professional scholarship emphasizes the use of geospatial analysis, scenario planning, and design visualization as decision-support tools in public-sector planning. 

He holds a dual Master of Architecture Studies and Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Architecture from Hampton University and is a Senior Executive Fellow of Harvard University. His interdisciplinary background integrates architecture, planning, and public service, with professional affiliations including the American Planning Association, American Institute of Architects (Associate), National Organization of Minority Architects, and National Commercial Real Estate Development Association.

About Michael Sherman

Expertise

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Urban Design
Urban Planning