Architecture of Chennai - Urban Planning

Urban Planning

Chennai city is arranged in a grid pattern running north-south and east-west. Roads and localities have undergone significant change in the late 20th century. Many areas along the western stretch of the city were planned development efforts, such as Ashok Nagar, KK Nagar and Anna Nagar. Several areas south of the Adyar River, including Kotturpuram, Besant Nagar and Adyar itself, have been developed only since the mid 1960s. Characteristic features of all these localities are their unusually wide roads and Cartesian grid layouts. Many of these places were remote suburbs when they were first developed.

Current urban development efforts are concentrated along the southern and western suburbs, largely seeking to benefit from the growing IT corridor in the southeast and the new ring roads in the west. The extent of the city's urban sprawl is indicated by the fact that the area administered by Chennai Corporation is 174 km², while the total urbanized area is estimated to be over 1100 km².