Copying the format of a past journal article as a model Is it right to copy the format of past journal articles in one's research as an upcoming researcher? 

To give an example assuming there is a research article on "the dynamics of informal urbanism in Asia - the case of Indian cities." Can I pick up the same reasoning, albeit slightly, and apply it to, say, "the dynamics of informal urbanism in Africa - the case of Kenya"? 

Will that be acceptable?
It can  be done in an acceptable way. I would frame such an article as a replication: This is what XX and YY found in India. This is what I know about Kenya. So this is how I expect the findings to be different (or the same) in Kenya. Now lets look.

Beware of plagiarism though. Your article will be close to the original, so make sure you don't (unconciously) copy phrases, and cite every time you use ideas from the original article.