Michael Brown, II, AICP (he/him/his)

Director
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP)
Chicago, Illinois

Michael Brown, AICP is Director of Planning at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), the metropolitan planning organization for northeastern Illinois. A practicing planner for nearly two decades, he leads work at the intersection of housing, transportation, economic development, and environmental justice, with a strong emphasis on implementation, community empowerment, and local government capacity-building.

Michael facilitates CMAP’s collaboration with municipalities and community organizations to address complex local and regional challenges, including a MacArthur Foundation–supported initiative focused on strengthening local government capacity. He previously worked in Chicago-area consulting firms and spent more than a decade with the Montgomery County Planning Department (MD). He also participated in a Robert Bosch Foundation transatlantic research fellowship in Germany before joining CMAP.

Michael currently serves as a Director-at-Large on the American Planning Association (APA) Board of Directors, is the board liaison to APA’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, and previously served as President of the APA National Capital Area Chapter. He was National Chair of the 2025 APA National Planning Conference and was named a Crain’s Chicago Business Notable Leader in Community Development in 2022. He holds degrees in architecture and urban planning.

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Presentation(s):

• Equity in Practice IRL: Continuing the Momentum

  Monday, April 27, 2026
  3:00 PM - 4:00 PM CT