The department was created in 1964 in SAP and since then, the PG programme is offered primarily to the sponsored candidates of the industry and then extended to fresh candidates. It is a pioneering institute offering this programme in whole of South India. The products of this dept. are wide spread in South Indian states and have been interacting with the dept. The faculty members are well trained and equipped with industrial and societal needs. Of the faculty members, three professors are with Ph.D. Degree and other two lecturers are doing Ph.D. Apart from academic activities, the staff members have been engaged in Research, Consultancy and Training activities regularly. At present the Dept. is proposing to introduce M.Plan (in Infrastructure Planning, Health care system & Planning) programme and B.Plan Programmes (Town & Country Planning and Real Estate Development & Planning)

Thrust areas include housing, transportation, resource and heritage Conservation, environment, infrastructure, trade and commerce, land use planning, socio-cultural development, population dynamics and landscape and design. Faculty members of the Dept. of Planning undertake professional and research work as sponsored and independent research. Apart from these there are about 500 postgraduate thesis work and 100 Dissertation reports produced by the M.Plan students. About 16 Ph. D scholars work under the guidance of the staff of the Dept. of Planning.

Ph.D Research / Projects Completed

• Development control as a source of planning information-a GIS application to MMDA

• Informal finances & EWS housing: A case study of Chennai

• Informal sector of Trade and Service activities & their impacts on land use, environment and transportation- A case study of T. Nagar, Chennai.

• Women entrepreneurs in Chennai Metropolitan Area- An explorative study.

Ongoing Ph.D Research

• Development of Tourism by Enhancing Visual Landscape Quality

• Planning and Management of Pavements in Chennai City.

• Working families and Urban Housing Needs in Chennai.

• Social Dynamics and management of Urban Open Spaces.

• Conservation Strategies of Heritage Settlements in Tamil Nadu.

• GIS Application for Environmental and Eco System Analysis

• Optimization Model for Urban Development of Hill Towns in Economically Sensitive Zones.

• Energy Conscious Environment with Special reference to Residential Buildings.

• Environmental Planning-Developing Sustainability Model Applying ecological Foot Print.

• Globalization, governance and Urban Form

• Urbanization and Migration Pattern

This department is also striving towards the International recognition of academic and research activities. A MOU was signed by the Vice-chancellors of Anna University, Chennai and the University of South Australia in 2007. There are 4 University of South Australia’s undergraduate in Urban Planning studying at SAP. Four of the Undergraduate students of SAP are with the University of South Australia for the Session Feb-June 2008. In order to strengthen the MOU this department has submitted joint research proposal under IASRF (Indo-Australian Strategic Research Fund).

Professor

22203707

Professor

22203704

Professor

22203705

Lecturer

22203703

Lecturer

22203703

Conversion of CCP into Business Plan: Vellore, Villupuram & Thiruvannamalai.

Development Impact Model – A Case Study of East Coast Road

Development & Testing Tool for Quantitative Assessment of sustainability: Gudiyatham Block – A Case Study.

Brief Write up of Most Successful Research Projects:

With the devastating of Tsunami of December 20004 that torn the coast of Tamil Nadu, Department of Planning initiated a joint studio project aiming at the prepare a “Sustainable Development plan for Tsunami affected coastal stretch of Cuddalore” with the students of M.Plan, March (Landscape) of School of Architecture and Planning and the students of Department of Environmental Planning, students of the Department of Landscape Architecture of School of Planning and Architecture(Under the MHRD, Government of India), New Delhi. The results of the project were presented in a chain of seminars organized at New Delhi, Chennai and Pondicherry. It was highly appreciated by the Government, NGOs and the departments alike.