The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA)
has been recognised as a research centre by the Centre for Research,
Anna University.

With this, students, teachers and
researchers in urban planning will have easy access to data and
documents on these subjects. CMDA on Tuesday announced that the move
will allow for “ collaborative research for the purpose of pursuing
Ph.D/M.S (by research programme) under part time mode with effect from
January 2013.”

The move is expected to specifically
benefit planners who are currently employed with CMDA and who wish to
pursue research. Many of them are pursuing research after retirement
from CMDA as they were not able to do so while at work. “The officials
of CMDA with relevant UG/PG qualification will also be permitted to
register for Ph. D/M.S (by research programme) under part-time mode.
This recognition is to be renewed once in three years in compliance with
the required norms of Anna University,” the release said.

“Good
research papers will get published by planners associated with CMDA.
This will provide an answer to challenging aspects of urban planning and
development in Chennai. In its first year, the centre is likely to
churn out five to 10 research papers. We cannot expect a large number of
research papers as the planners will also have to do their day-to-day
job,” said S. Santhanam, former member-chief urban planner, CMDA.

The
existing data generated by CMDA will be subjected to rigorous research
by its own staff and other scholars. This is expected to solve
challenges to urban planning.

“We need research in a
number of topics. The best landuse and economics to promote public
transportation; pollution and other benchmarks in planning to aid
selection of appropriate projects; preservation and creation of water
bodies, marshland and urban forestry in an expanding city; and very
importantly planning to aid the expansion of the economy,” said Raj
Cherubal, Director of CityConnect.

“Institutions such
as Harvard and MIT send their students to Chennai to study challenges
to urban planning. The new status of CMDA may facilitate better access
to data. Scholars can directly contact resource persons,” said a retired
official of CMDA.