Purpose—rapid urbanization is dangerous to the development of society as it hinders development and makes urban living more difficult. This research aims to develop a system dynamics model for land use assessment at transport interactions in Chennai. Design/methodology/approach—the parameters of urbanization can be simulated using a system dynamics model. In this paper, the unchecked urbanization of Southern Chennai is considered as a case study; various parameters, such as population, land use, trip rate, Volume/Capacity (V/C), and Demand/Supply (D/S), are simulated for three different years: 2011, 2021, and 2031. Three scenarios are simulated: the Do-Min scenario (existing trend), partial scenario (some models are implemented), and the desirable scenario (all the proposed models are implemented). Findings—the simulation is performed using the Stella simulation tool. The results show that the proposed desirable model is highly effective in controlling both the population and other parameters. Originality/value—this study has been performed in the Indian city of Chennai, where such studies are rare. This study could help to analyze the traffic situation and make improvements to ease the urbanization issues. This research could also help to analyze the future traffic situation and make improvements to ease urbanization-related issues. Moreover, when the desirable scenario is followed in real-time, it could solve future problems that may arise from traffic congestion in Chennai.