Yetimoni Kpeebi

Yetimoni Kpeebi is a Geography Ph.D. candidate at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research sits at the intersection of homelessness, urban informality, and climate change, with particular attention to how marginalized people and communities navigate urban systems that often inadequately recognize their needs and experiences. His doctoral research examines how homelessness shapes exposure to climate-related hazards in the United States, how unhoused people navigate extreme heat and other environmental risks, and how planning and emergency management can advance more inclusive and equitable disaster preparedness and response. His broader research examines tiny house villages, the formal–informal dynamics of homelessness, environmental justice, urban resilience, and sustainable urban development.

Kpeebi’s scholarship spans both the United States and Ghana, allowing him to question conventional distinctions between the Global North and Global South. Reflecting the ambition, breadth, and depth of his scholarship, he is also an affiliate of the Informal Sustainability Lab at the University of Michigan. He has built a substantial body of scholarship early in his academic career, evidenced by more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and over 140 citations. His work has been published in leading journals, including the Journal of Planning Literature, Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Land Use Policy, Cities, and Habitat International. Kpeebi continues to build a public voice alongside his academic scholarship, contributing research-informed perspectives to debates on homelessness and housing. His research has been featured in prominent media outlets, including The New York Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Planetizen, and Boston College Law School Magazine. 

He is the 2026 Scholar/Fellow of the Sustainable Communities Division of the American Planning Association (APA), and a winner of the inaugural Graduate Student Essay Competition organized by Urban Affairs Review. He has also served as Guest Editor for special issues of Cities & Health (Taylor & Francis) and the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy (University of Toronto Press).

Areas of research interest: Homelessness; tiny house villages; urban informality; environmental justice; urban resilience; sustainable urban development.

Advisor’s name: Dr. Michelle Zuñiga