Background ...

Qualifications Summary

Dr. J. Michael Cobb is an international planning, urban design, project development and management consultant with over twenty years of experience. For international corporate and governmental clients he has been involved in private and public sector projects and programs in the US, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.  

His specific experience includes: strategic urban expansion and redevelopment programs;  commercial and industrial master planning; new community and municipal land use planning; real estate investment and development projects; tourism and resort developments; and coastal zones and port planning projects and programs . 

His direct experience also includes: corporate asset strategies and site selection; local and national economic development programs; development of integrated public and private sector investments strategies and plans and transportation planning for regions, major airports, port development and mass transit. 

With an extensive background developing green infrastructure strategies, urban design, project plans and investment programs for tourism, economic development and urban expansion programs, Dr. Cobb has also been a strong advocate for increasing corporate and public emphasis on sustainable and smart growth approaches to development worldwide.

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Technical Skills

In addition to training and experience in urban and regional planning, urban design and economic development, Dr. Michael Cobb's technology background includes computer modeling packages (UTPS transportation), geographic and spatial information systems (GIS and CAD), data base programs and related project management technologies for urban development and transportation projects. His work also involves the latest application of information and related Internet and e-commerce technologies for project planning, design, management, marketing and support for community outreach and involvement. 

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International Affiliations

Dr. Michael Cobb is Managing Director and Principal Member of IDC International Development Consultants, LLC, a limited liability company registered in the State of New Jersey, USA. 

As an independent consultant and through IDC, Dr. Cobb is also affiliated with various professional firms and research institutes in the US as well as internationally.

His international professional affiliations include: urban planning, architecture, engineering and constructor-finance groups in the US and Asia;  transportation and infrastructure planning development and finance groups in China, Canada, Holland, the Philippines and England; and economic development groups in Turkey, Cyprus, South Africa, Jordan, Lebanon and other countries.

Dr. Cobb has also been involved with major international research institutions and initiatives including: the Korean Research Institute for Human Settlements; the International Housing and Infrastructure Finance Program of the Wharton Real Estate Center at the University of Pennsylvania; the Urban Institute in Washington, DC; and the Jordan-Israel Red Sea Marine Peace Park Cooperative Research, Monitoring and Management Program (RSMPP).

Why IDC? ...Client Benefits

 IDC's global affiliations permit important cost-effective individual or team responses to evolving client needs during the initiation, development and later implementation stages of smaller as well as larger planning, development and investment projects and programs for most locations worldwide.

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Professional Background

Corporate Experience. Prior to establishing his consulting practice in 1987, Dr. Cobb was an executive and senior professional working throughout the US and in various regions overseas with several leading international companies including Bechtel Civil (Chief of Urban & Infrastructure Planning), Planning Research Corporation (Vice President of PRC Engineering) and EDAW Incorporated (Director of Urban Planning & Design).

Public Sector Experience. Dr. Cobb's direct public sector work has included: consulting with the US Agency for International Development in Africa, South East Asia and the Caribbean; as urban planner with the Corp of Engineers and as part of a local-state-federal interagency transportation planning task force for the San Francisco Bay Region of northern California; he has also been seconded to governmental planning and development agencies in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. 

Education.  Dr. Michael Cobb has a Ph.D. and M. Arch. from the University of Pennsylvania, a B.Arch. from Clemson University, a Certificate in Real Estate and a Diploma in Engineering from the US Army Officer Engineering School.  He has also been an Executive Education Resident Fellow in public and corporate finance at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.

Professional Associations. Dr. Cobb is Fellow of the Institute for Urban Design, licensed in Real Estate and in Professional Planning (PP) in the State of New Jersey, USA and he is also member of EcoCity Builders and a Charter Member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).His other professional affiliations have included the Urban Land Institute,. San Francisco Planning and Urban Renewal Association (SPUR), New Jersey Future, the American Public Transit Association, the International Air Transport Action Group, the International Real Estate Research Institute, the Society of American Military Engineers and other local and regional professional associations.

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