Laxmi Ramasubramanian

Dr. Laxmi Ramasubramanian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning. She is also a member of the doctoral faculty in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Program at the Graduate Center, the doctorate-granting institution of the City University of New York. In 2009, Anna University, Chennai, India appointed Dr. Ramasubramanian as a Visiting Professor (Overseas). This honorary appointment is intended to facilitate and strengthen collaboration between Anna University, Hunter College, and CUNY. Dr. Ramasubramanian has traveled widely, and has lived and worked in New Zealand and Australia and in many cities in the United States including Boston, Milwaukee, Washington DC, and Chicago before moving to New York in 2004.

Dr. Laxmi Ramasubramanian received a Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch) degree from the Regional Engineering College in Tiruchirapalli. She received the prized Sir. L.M. Chitale Gold Medal in Architecture for being the top-ranked student in that graduating class. After completing her Master of Architecture (M. Arch) degree from the School of Architecture and Planning at Anna University, Laxmi moved to the United States in 1989, receiving a Master in City Planning degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1991) and eventually a PhD in Architecture (Environment-Behavior Studies) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1998).

Dr. Ramasubramanian seeks to inform and transform planning practice in order to create a just and equitable society. Specifically her research examines how the use of digital technologies such as GIS can alter social and political processes, particularly the power of individuals and institutions to create and sustain social change.