Redefining the food desert: combining GIS with direct observation to measure food access

LeClair, Mark S.; Aksan, Anna-Maria

doi:10.1007/s10460-014-9501-y

Cited by 38 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Recent studies in North America have, in fact, revealed the uneven geography of food access and the existence of so-called "food deserts"-areas with severely impaired access to fresh fruits and vegetables [77,78], and "food swamps"-areas with high density of fast-food and unhealthy food outlets [79]. Through their food strategies and local land-use policies, cities are, thus, aiming to address these anomalies in the urban foodscape.…”

Section: Food Assistance Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Food Systems Strategies: A Promising Tool for Implementing the SDGs in Practice †

Ilieva

2017

Sustainability

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The UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the transition from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), heralds an important turn in global sustainability policy. With implementation now taking place in all countries, regardless of GDP, a key question is how affluent governments in large metropolitan areas can effectively contribute to global sustainable development. This paper argues that urban food systems strategies-a relatively new tool in local policymaking in the Global North-have the potential to amplify and consolidate national and international efforts in this direction and facilitate a more synergistic approach to SDG implementation. An in-depth comparative analysis of the 2030 Agenda and the sustainable food systems strategies of five of the ten largest cities in North America-New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Toronto-helps to uncover key gaps and areas of convergence between goals, objectives, and evaluation frameworks. Goal-and indicator-level analyses cast light on promising areas for cross-jurisdictional cooperation and suggest that, while not without limitations, urban food systems strategies offer manifold pathways to streamline global, national, and local implementation efforts and effectively forward the 2030 Agenda over the next decade.

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Section: Food Assistance Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Food Systems Strategies: A Promising Tool for Implementing the SDGs in Practice †

Ilieva

2017

Sustainability

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“…Food deserts were first identified in the 1990s to describe areas with poor access to the affordable food necessary for a healthy diet (Beaulac, Kristjansson, and Cummins 2009;LeClair and Aksan 2014). Hence, food deserts represent both physical and economic barriers to accessing healthy food (Reisig and Hobbiss 2000) and relate closely to food insecurity.…”

Section: Food Security and Food Desertsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are There Food Deserts in Rainforest Cities?

Davies

Frausin

Parry

2017

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

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Food deserts have been widely studied in Western contexts but rarely in transitioning economies and never within a rainforest. The Brazilian Amazon is a rapidly urbanizing region with high levels of poverty and food insecurity, providing an ideal context in which to explore this current research gap. Within this setting, five urban centers ranging from small town to metropole are examined to explore any potential variations between urban centers of different sizes and settings. A large survey was conducted with interviews in 554 food shops, assessing shop characteristics, food availability, price, and alternative household food acquisition strategies. Methods were developed to explore food deserts, accounting for food acquisition across multiple shops within a neighborhood. Insufficient access to healthy food was estimated to be widespread (42 percent of households), with access worse in smaller towns. Unlike many previous studies, local access to healthy food was not linked to neighborhood poverty and prices were generally lower in poorer areas. High levels of nonretail sourcing of food (e.g., fruit trees, fishing) in this region might lead to an overestimation of the food access problem if only retail food provision were considered. We conclude that food deserts are widespread in the rainforest cities studied, yet we highlight the importance of understanding local retail and nonretail food contexts. Finally, we question the extent to which the traditional food desert concept can be directly applied in the context of transitioning economies.

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“…Although scholars conducting food desert research have produced many quantitative studies analyzing spatial patterns of urban and rural access to nutritious food (McKinnon et al 2009) and recently extended this approach with studies that focus on residents' transportation patterns in low food access areas (Hirsch and Hillier 2013;LeClair and Aksan 2014), some scholars and food justice activists have critiqued food desert studies. These critiques highlight the way that conventional food desert studies remained rooted in a supply side perspective that relies almost exclusively on the use of quantitative and geospatial methodologies to understand obesity and food insecurity (Short et al 2007).…”

Section: Food Access Mapping Limits and The Challenges Of Everyday Fomentioning

confidence: 99%

The rise of food banks and the challenge of matching food assistance with potential need: towards a spatially specific, rapid assessment approach

Bacon

Baker

2017

Agric Hum Values

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Redefining the food desert: combining GIS with direct observation to measure food access

Cited by 38 publications

References 44 publications

Urban Food Systems Strategies: A Promising Tool for Implementing the SDGs in Practice †

Urban Food Systems Strategies: A Promising Tool for Implementing the SDGs in Practice †

Are There Food Deserts in Rainforest Cities?

The rise of food banks and the challenge of matching food assistance with potential need: towards a spatially specific, rapid assessment approach

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