School of Planning PhD Student Receives Black Graduate Award from UWaterloo's Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism

The School of Planning is proud to announce that UWaterloo’ s Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism has awarded School of Planning PhD student Barnabas Addi with the Black Graduate Award on the bases of his academic achievements and extensive community services.

Barnabas comes to the School of Planning with a BSc. In Development Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, and an MSc. In Urban Planning and Policy Design from Politecnico di Milano, Italy.

Barnabas’ PhD research, “Understanding the Housing Pathways and Residential Geographies of Young Adults in Ghanaian Cities,” aims to address housing concerns for young adults in Ghana’s fast-urbanizing cities, which have been impacted by economic hardship, neoliberal policies, and an increasingly inaccessible housing market. Ghana’s young adults face high unemployment and low incomes, while their needs remain largely unaddressed in local urban and housing policies. Barnabas hopes to bring the housing experiences of young Ghanaian’s to planning research and policy discourse to progressively shape urban housing policies and ensure housing justice.