Michael worked at the DPU from 1970 to 2006. While at the DPU he conducted research on Planned Urban Growth in Zambia and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, and prepared UN position papers on Managing Human Settlements.
He launched a short course on Planning and Regional Development in 1978, and co-led a series of 3 month planning courses in Nigeria, beginning in 1984. In 1985-1990 he ran a short course on Action Planning for Urban Development and was director of the MSc Urban Development Planning from 1993, a course that still runs to this day. He went on to launch a second Masters course in Cosmopolitan planning 5 years later.
