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Faculty

Dr. Chinnu S Kumar

B.Arch., TKM College of Engineering, Kollam

U. D., School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

Ph.D. in Architecture and Planning, MNIT Jaipur

Dr. Chinnu S Kumar is an architect and urban designer by profession, a researcher by role, and an academic by passion. Her work brings together placemaking, cultural tourism, urban heritage, public space design, and research-led practice. With over ten years of experience across teaching, doctoral research, and professional urban design consultancy, she works at the intersection of academic inquiry and grounded design implementation. Her doctoral research at MNIT Jaipur focused on developing a placemaking framework for cultural tourism in historic port cities, with special emphasis on public space, city image, identity, and the medieval port precinct of Kochi.

Her professional practice includes serving as Senior Urban Design Consultant for tourism master planning projects for Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, Government of Tamil Nadu, covering major destinations such as Rameshwaram Island, Kodaikanal, Thiruchendur, Kanniyakumari, and several major dam tourism sites in Tamil Nadu. She has also contributed to award-winning public space projects, including Freedom Square, Calicut Beach Stage, a socially responsive urban design initiative recognised at national and state-level architecture and design awards.

As an academic, she has taught and mentored students across architecture and planning studios, with a strong interest in contextual design, public realm studies, heritage-sensitive urbanism, and research-based pedagogy. Her scholarly contributions include Scopus-indexed publications, international conference presentations, and peer-review service for a Q2 Scopus-indexed journal in spatial planning and sustainable development. Her work is further enriched by heritage documentation, conservation appraisal, community engagement, heritage walks, and illustration for published books on local history and cultural landscapes.

Specialisation and Interest:

Placemaking; Cultural Tourism; Urban Heritage; Public Space; Historic Port Cities; Urban Design Research; Heritage Conservation; Tourism Master Planning; Community Engagement.

  1. Presented/ Published papers
  • Conference presentation titled, ‘Smart Water Urbanism and Placemaking in Public Spaces’, presented at the 3rd Conference on Future Challenges in Sustainable Urban Planning & Territorial Management from January 20–22, 2026, Online.
  • Conference presentation (Poster) titled, ‘Enhancing Urban Identity Through Smart City Technologies: A case of medieval port city of Kochi’, presented at Smart Sustainable Cities 2025: Pioneering Novel Frontiers for Green Urban Living from March 05–07, 2025, Online.
  • Conference presentation titled, ‘Spatial Schematic Model of Indian Colonial Port City: Drawing Parallels for Kochi from Existing Models’, presented at the 2nd Conference on Future Challenges in Sustainable Urban Planning & Territorial Management from January 29–31, 2024, Online.
  • Journal article titled, ‘Place Making and Sustainable Urbanism: Strategies for Creating Liveable and Resilient Cities’ in Engineering Proceedings (2024 CiteScore:1.2) 53(1), November 2023 – (Scopus indexed).
  • Journal article titled, ‘An Investigation of placemaking attributes for cultural tourism in historic port cities: Using the Fuzzy Delphi method’ in Engineering Proceedings 53(1), October 2023 – (Scopus indexed).
  • Journal article (ACCEPTED) titled, ‘Morphology of waterfront public spaces in Indian colonial port cities: A Case Study of Kochi city’ in International Review for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development, revision received November 24, 2023 – (Scopus indexed).
  • Conference presentation titled, ‘Exploring Water Smart management in Smart cities of Rajasthan, India’, presented at RHAR 2023: 3rd International Conference on ‘River Health: Assessment to Restoration (RHAR)’ from October 12–14, 2023, at the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University) Varanasi, India.
  • Conference presentation titled, ‘Water Sensitive Placemaking: Smart Water Integration for Resilient and Liveable Public Open Spaces’, presented at RHAR 2023: 3rd International Conference on ‘River Health: Assessment to Restoration (RHAR)’ from October 12–14, 2023, at the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University) Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
  • Article titled, ‘Challenges for IWRM in Ajmer’ in Elets eGov Magazine – Special edition in collaboration with National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), March Issue on SDG 6.5.
  • Magazine article titled, ‘The Countless Silhouettes of Divinity’ in Journal of the Indian Institute of Architects, Volume 87, Issue 12, December 2022.
  • Paper presentation titled, ‘Patterns and approaches in Urban regeneration’, at All India seminar on Heritage architecture during February 29 – 1st March 2020 at The Institution of Engineers (India) Jodhpur local centre.
  • Paper presentation titled, ‘Attitude towards conservation: Challenges faced in a conservation attempt of a 100-year-old Colonial School Building in Calicut’, at ‘International conference on urban conservation: Urban Conservation: Restoration and Rejuvenation of Heritage and Culture of Historic Cities’ during Nov 26 – 28, 2018 at Centre for Built Environment, Kolkata.
  • Paper presentation titled, ‘The story of Connolly Canal – A Walk to apologize’, at 2nd International Conference on Design Pedagogy and Contextual Aesthetics (ICDPCA 2017) – Thanima’ – Jan 19 – 21, 2017 at Dept. of Architecture, NIT Calicut in association with Indian Institute of Architects Calicut chapter and E K F, Pune. 

2. Authored and Illustrated Books

  • Co-Author and Editorial Conception Lead for ‘Van: The Plant Palette of Indian Cultural Constellations’ (First Edition – 27 March 2026), conceptualized by Vigneswaran A; self-published, Pondicherry, 2026 (ISBN: 978-93-5759-251-2).
  • Curated and Compiled ‘The Botanical Chronicles of Living Stone & Sindhu’ (First Edition), documenting the residential landscape project ‘Living Stone & Sindhu Residence’, Bengaluru; landscape design by Ar. Vigneswaran; self-published, Pondicherry, 2026 (ISBN: 978-935773697-8).
  • Map illustrator for the book ‘The Legacy of Shivaji the Great: Military Strategy, Naval Supremacy, and the Maratha Empire’, authored by Col. Anil Athale and published by Indus Source Books on October 26, 2023.
  • Illustrator for the book ‘My Own Mazagon – The history of the little island in the Bombay archipelago’, authored by Captain Ramesh Babu and published by Indus Source Books on July 2021.
  • Illustrator for the book ‘Calicut Heritage Trails’, authored by Captain Ramesh Babu and published by DC Books on January 2020 at Kerala Literature Festival.

3. Awards and Recognitions  

  •  Best Presentation Award for the conference presentation for article titled, ‘Place Making and Sustainable Urbanism: Strategies for Creating Liveable and Resilient Cities’, at ‘The 1st International Online Conference on Buildings: Advances in Building Planning, Design, Construction, and Operation’ (October 24–26, 2023). Received a cash prize of 500 CHF with the certificate. https://sciforum.net/event/IOCBD2023
  • Winner, Socially Responsible Architecture category, IIA National Awards 2021, for the project ‘Freedom Square, Kozhikode – Beach Stage’, recognising excellence in inclusive public space design and civic engagement.
  • Silver Leaf Award, IIA Kerala State Awards 2021, awarded to ‘Freedom Square, Kozhikode – Beach Stage’ for outstanding contribution to public architecture in the state of Kerala.
  • Award of Excellence, Trends Excellence Awards 2021, conferred on ‘Freedom Square, Kozhikode – Beach Stage’ for design quality and impact in contemporary Indian architecture.
  • Winner, IIID Kerala Awards 2022, for the project ‘Freedom Square, Kozhikode – Beach Stage’, acknowledging innovation in urban design and public realm architecture.
  • Winner, ‘AISAA, 2022’ (All India Stone Architectural Awards), awarded to ‘Freedom Square, Kozhikode – Beach Stage’ for exemplary use of stone in architectural and public space design.
  • Ist Prize for Paper presentation titled, ‘MOVE-FREE: Hybrid transit runnable on road and beam rail’, in Ideaz: Architecture & Planning Cell-01-Cognizance 2011 conducted at IIT Roorkee on March 11-13, 2011.
  • IInd Prize for Paper presentation titled, ‘MASTER BUILDER: The total construction machine’, in Ideaz: Architecture & Planning Cell-03-Cognizance 2011 conducted at IIT Roorkee on March 11-13, 2011.
  • IInd Prize for Paper presentation titled, ‘Sustainability’, in MESTECH 2010 conducted at MES College of Engineering, Kuttipuram on December 1-2, 2010.