School of Planning and Architecture
Encyclopedia
School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi (or commonly termed as SPA Delhi amongst professionals) is a National Resource Institute of India. It is also one of the few premier 'Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTI)' under the Government of India. Currently there are 3 SPAs all over India, administered under the MHRD, Government of India. Other than the legendary SPA Delhi, the other 2 SPAs that have started functioning from 2008 at Vijayawada
Vijayawada
Vijayawada is the third largest city in Andhra Pradesh, India, located on the banks of the Krishna River and bounded by the Indrakiladri Hills on the West and the Budameru River on the North. The city is located in the Krishna District, about from the state capital Hyderabad.Vijayawada literally...

 and Bhopal. The SPA Delhi is a specialized university imparting education and research in the field of Planning and Architecture. The SPAs are well-recognized among domestic and international fraternity for their quality education and alumunus.

History

School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi had a modest beginning in 1941 as the Department of Architecture of Delhi Polytechnic. It was later affiliated to the University of Delhi and then integrated with the School of Town and Country Planning which was established in 1955 by the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

 to provide facilities for training in Rural, Urban and Regional Planning.The School was subsequently renamed as School of Planning and Architecture, and was affiliated to the University of Delhi
University of Delhi
The University of Delhi is a central university situated in Delhi, India and is funded by Government of India. Established in 1922, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. Vice-President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari is the Chancellor of the university...

 in 1959. Recognizing the specialized nature of the fields in which the School had attained its eminence, the Government of India, through the Ministry of Education and Culture, conferred on the School of Planning and Architecture the status of 'Deemed University
Deemed University
Deemed university is a status of autonomy granted to high performing institutes and departments of various universities in India. This status of ‘Deemed-to-be-University’, is granted by Department of Higher Education, Union Human Resource Development Ministry, on the advice of the University Grants...

' in 1979. This new status enabled the School to broaden its horizon by introducing new academic extension programmes, promote research and award its own undergraduate, post-graduate, and doctoral degrees. The location of the School in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

, the national capital, offers opportunities for participation in the city's rich cultural life and for interaction with various national as well as international institutions, attracting students from all over India and from other developing countries.

Two more School of Planning and Architectures were sanctioned to be built and set up as CFTIs by the Government of India in 2008. In accordance, School of Planning & Architecture, Vijayawada (AP) and SPA, Bhopal (MP), have started functioning. First batch of students were enrolled in these two CFTIs in August 2008. Construction of dedicated campus and infrastructure is underway and the building project is supposed to be completed by 2012-13. The two new SPAs will offer graduate, post-graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral education in architecture and planning, while also fostering research of a high order in these areas. All SPAs are also socially responsible institutions for providing research feedback to the government for physical development of human settlements

Campus

The current SPA Delhi campus is housed near ITO in Indraprastha Estate in New Delhi. The SPA Residential Campus and Hostels is located in New Friends Colony, Delhi. A site of 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) has recently been acquired south of JNU for developing a new campus.

School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada is currently at Gudavalli on NH-5 ,few kilometers away from Vijayawada main town, SPA Bhopal is functioning from the premises of Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) in Bhopal.
.

Library

The two libraries of SPA together house an invaluable collection of 66,000 books, built up over a period of five decades. This library is reputed to be Asia's finest specialised library dealing with the architecture, design and planning fields along with their allied disciplines. In addition to SPA's own faculty and students, the library is used intensively by a range of visiting research scholars from various cities in India and abroad.

The architecture campus and planning campus libraries are also noted for their collection of Thesis Reports, Seminar Reports, Dissertation Reports, Technical Reports of various expert bodies and commissions, Census Reports, and so on.

Autodesk: Centre of Excellence

The Autodesk: Centre of Excellence in the Architecture Building is equipped with 50 CAD
workstations.

Courses

The School is a specialized university, only three of its kind, which exclusively provides training and education at various levels in planning, design and management of different aspects of human habitat and environment. The School has taken lead in introducing several academic programmes in various inter-related specialized fields at Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral levels, some of which are not available elsewhere in India.

Undergraduate level

In SPA Delhi, SPA Vijayawada and SPA Bhopal, the following undergraduate courses are offered --
  • Bachelor of Planning
    Planning
    Planning in organizations and public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a plan; and the psychological process of thinking about the activities required to create a desired goal on some scale. As such, it is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior...

     (4 years)
  • Bachelor of Architecture
    Architecture
    Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

     (5 years)

Postgraduate level

Currently, post graduate programmes are only offered in SPA Delhi and SPA bhopal,SPA bhopal started postgraduate programmes and doctoral programmes fron 2010.currently two post graduation program is running,M.arch in urban design n M.plan in urban planning at SPA bhopal.SPA bhopal also offering doctoral level programmes leading towards a Ph.D Degree. . It is estimated that by 2011,SPA Vijayawada shall commence postgraduate programmes and doctoral programmes.

Master's Programme in Planning with specialization in
  • Environmental Planning
    Environmental planning
    Environmental Planning is the process of facilitating decision making to carry out development with due consideration given to the natural environmental, social, political, economic and governance factors and provides a holistic frame work to achieve sustainable outcomes.-Elements of environmental...

  • Housing
    House
    A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

  • Transport Planning
  • Regional Planning
    Regional planning
    Regional planning deals with the efficient placement of land use activities, infrastructure, and settlement growth across a larger area of land than an individual city or town. The related field of urban planning deals with the specific issues of city planning...

  • Urban Planning
    Urban planning
    Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....

  • Master's Programme in industrial design
    Industrial design
    Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...

  • Master's Programme in Building Engineering and Management
  • Master's Programme in Landscape Architecture
    Landscape architecture
    Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...



The school also offers doctoral level programmes leading towards a Ph.D Degree.

Trivia

  • Noted Writer and Activist Arundhati Roy
    Arundhati Roy
    Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...

     studied at SPA, completing the five-year undergraduate degree in six years.
  • The movie In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones
    In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones
    In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones is a 1989 Indian TV film. Screenplay by Arundhati Roy , directed by Pradip Krishen, and starring Arjun Raina as the title character, along with Roshan Seth and Shahrukh Khan...

     (1989) directed by Arundhati Roy
    Arundhati Roy
    Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...

    is based on the life of students of the college and was filmed at SPA. The second Movie of Shahrukh Khan in which Shahrukh Khan acted in a small role as an Ex Senior Student

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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