Rockson Yirbom Niminga-Beka
Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Urban planning, Urban design
Biography
Rockson Yirbom Niminga-Beka is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, Australia, where he holds a Melbourne Research Scholarship. His research examines how the gap between formal plans and urban outcomes is produced, negotiated, and sustained in cities across sub-Saharan Africa. He is a professional urban planner with extensive experience in public service.
Rockson is also a co-founder of Plan Cities, an initiative that tackles urban and peri-urban housing and design challenges through research into indigenous materials and socio-cultural realities, to advance more sustainable approaches to housing, design, and development. He holds a bachelor’s in Human Settlement Planning and a Master of Philosophy in Geographic Information Systems from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
Thesis
Between Land Use Plans and Outcomes: Analysis of Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa
This study investigates the persistent gap between formal plans and outcomes in Sub-Saharan African cities through a comparative, multi-scalar morphological analysis of six neighbourhoods in the cities of Accra (Ghana), Lagos (Nigeria), and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).
Using a qualitative methodology that combines spatial mapping, document analysis, and interviews, the study examines how this gap is produced and negotiated. The findings will show how informal and formal planning practices intersect and how outcomes are negotiated within this complex assemblage. It will critique the urban morphologies that are produced in terms of the public benefit.
In doing so, the study aims to inform more contextually responsive planning practices in rapidly urbanising and informalising cities.
Contact
- Email rockson.yirbomnimingabeka@student.unimelb.edu.au
- LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/ rockson-y-niminga-beka-a52240140
- ORCID Profile ORCID