Food access in Kalamazoo, Michigan: A spatial analysis

Author:

Call Natalie,Silber Elizabeth,Girdler E. Binney

Abstract

Healthy and affordable food is a universal human need. In the U.S., food access is often limited in low-income areas as opposed to medium- and high-income areas. To address disparities in the availability of healthy foods, the dispersion of food access points needs to be quantified and docu­mented. Nutritional quality and consistency of availability vary across different types of food access points, including permanent grocery stores, farmers markets, community gardens, food pan­tries, and convenience stores. Accessibility is also determined by the means of transportation avail­able or required to get to food access points (public transit, driving, or walking). In this geographic information systems (GIS)-based analysis, we iden­tify differences in accessibility to distinct types of food access points—reliable, seasonal, and lower quality—between low-income and higher-income tracts in the City of Kalamazoo, Michigan. We found that all full-service grocery stores are acces­sible via bus routes in the City of Kalamazoo; however, 11% of people reside in low-income areas with low access to these grocery stores—beyond the 0.25-mile walkable distance to bus routes. We then asked whether the addition of community gardens, food pantries, and farmers markets, on the “plus” side, or convenience and dollar stores, on the “minus” side, changes the food access landscape in this community. We found that the “positive” access points served areas that already had access to grocers, while “negative” access points filled the access gap in lower income areas. More than twice as many low-income residents had walkable access to convenience stores—which provide lower-quality and highly processed food—with 81% of them being located within low-income tracts. Geographical analysis of low food access and low-quality food access is important to identify structural patterns, but it needs to be paired with interview-based community assessments to ascertain how residents actually procure their food.

Publisher

Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems

Subject

General Medicine

Reference39 articles.

1. Black migration, white flight: The effect of black migration on northern cities and labor markets;Boustan;The Journal of Economic History,2007

2. Breyer, B., & Voss-Andreae, A. (2013). Food mirages: Geographic and economic barriers to healthful food access in Portland, Oregon. Health & Place, 24, 131-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2013.07.008

3. Brones, A. (2018) Karen Washington: It's not a food desert, it's food apartheid. Guernica. https://www.guernicamag.com/karen-washington-its-not-a-food-desert-its-food-apartheid/

4. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities [CBPP]. (2023, February 13). Michigan Food Assistance Program fact sheet. https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/snap_factsheet_michigan.pdf

5. Chenarides, L., Cho, C., Nayga, R. M., & Thomsen, M. R. (2021). Dollar stores and food deserts. Applied Geography, 134, Article 102497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2021.102497

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3