Paul Boniface Akaabre

Contact

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science - Earth & Atmospheric Sciences

Email: akaabre@ualberta.ca

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Urban Planning Housing Neighbourhood Revitalization Spaitial Justice Equitable Development Property Rights Land Governance Climate Change Migration

About

Dr. Akaabre obtained his PhD from the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at the University of British Columbia. His work examined how traditional leasehold tenure function and influence the flow of investment to housing improvements and (re)development as well as how leaseholders’ rights in such systems might be strengthened. Prior to joining the University of Alberta, Dr. Akaabre worked with the School of Cities at the University of Toronto as a Postdoctoral Fellow where he facilitated a series of workshops on Equitable Development Data Insight Training Initiative (EDDIT) that offers data analysis and storytelling training to non-profit, community, and government organizations working towards urban equity in small and mid-sized cities in the U.S. and Canada. He also led and contributed to some of the exciting projects at the School of Cities, primarily on evaluating potential solutions to the continent’s affordable housing crisis. Dr. Akaabre's interest in indigenous people and reconciliation-based planning as well as decolonization and redevelopment of aging, unjust and racialized communities motivated him to work with BC Housing – a public agency and one of the biggest developers of housing in Western Canada – on the Riverview/səmiq̓ʷəʔelə land redevelopment project in partnership with the Kwikwetlem First Nation (KFN). He is a member of the Planning Institute of British Columbia (PIBC) and the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP).

Research

Dr. Akaabre's research focuses on the broad spectrum of housing development, finance, and justice, and how the current planning system and practices shape socioeconomic and spatial injustices in cities. Specific areas of interest and expertise include municipal finance and development; housing development and financing models; housing affordability, financialization, and market dynamics; housing inclusion and exclusion (search and discrimination); gentrification, displacement, ghettoization, and homelessness; decolonization and redevelopment of aging, unjust, and racialized communities (neighborhoods renewal/revitalization); cities and spatial justice (socioeconomic and spatial justice — both procedural and distributive); urban livelihoods, poverty, and food security; climate change, migration, and cities; healthy and equitable cities; inclusive and equitable development; urban land use, land governance, and property rights (including Indigenous land rights, reconciliation-based planning, and UNDRIP implementation); community engagement and partnership-based planning; and project planning and implementation management (appraisal, design, execution, monitoring, and evaluation), among other topics. His work is undertaken in North America and Sub-Saharan Africa and employs various methodologies (qualitative, quantitative-- field experiments, and mixed methods). Dr. Akaabre et al.’s work on the progressiveness of Canadian property taxation, which found that Vancouver and Toronto exhibit a particularly weak relationship between income tax and property values—partly due to influx of overseas wealth into the housing market (published in the National Tax Journal)—has received wide media coverage. Coverage of this study can be found on Global News. Currently, Dr. Akaabre is auditing housing discrimination in Canada and exploring models for redevelopment of aging and underutilized buildings (houses) in cities of Ghana and Canada, as well as how smart city innovations (technologies) can be designed and/or integrated into urban planning to address, rather than reinforce, spatial injustice.

Courses

PLAN 412 - Finance for Planners

An introduction to municipal finances and the development process as it relates to the Planning profession. Prerequisite: ECON 101. Not available for students with credit in HGP 412. Restricted to Planning Major and Planning Specialization students.

Winter Term 2025

PLAN 512 - Advanced Finance for Planners

An introduction to municipal finances and the development process as it relates to the planning profession. Sections offered at an increased rate of fee assessment; refer to the Tuition and Fees page in the University Regulations sections of the Calendar.

Winter Term 2025

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Featured Publications

Transparency of tenure institution as a factor in ensuring equity in practice: The case of stool lands privatization and formalization as traditional leasehold properties in Ghana