The Experts below are selected from a list of 2352 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jonathan Crush - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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informal Food Deserts and household Food insecurity in windhoek namibia
Sustainability, 2018Co-Authors: Jonathan Crush, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Lawrence N KazembeAbstract:Informal settlements in rapidly-growing African cities are urban and peri-urban spaces with high rates of formal unemployment, poverty, poor health outcomes, limited service provision, and chronic Food insecurity. Traditional concepts of Food Deserts developed to describe North American and European cities do not accurately capture the realities of Food inaccessibility in Africa’s urban informal Food Deserts. This paper focuses on a case study of informal settlements in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, to shed further light on the relationship between informality and Food Deserts in African cities. The data for the paper was collected in a 2016 survey and uses a sub-sample of households living in shack housing in three informal settlements in the city. Using various standard measures, the paper reveals that the informal settlements are spaces of extremely high Food insecurity. They are not, however, Food deprived. The proximity of supermarkets and open markets, and a vibrant informal Food sector, all make Food available. The problem is one of accessibility. Households are unable to access Food in sufficient quantity, quality, variety, and with sufficient regularity.
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the making of urban Food Deserts
2016Co-Authors: Jane Battersby, Jonathan CrushAbstract:The main objective of this book is to examine aspects of the relationship between Food and cities in the Global South, and Africa in particular. While Food security policy thinking at the global and national scale has largely neglected the urban dimension, those concerned with urban transformation have largely ignored Food security and Food systems. It is therefore important to understand the dimensions and character of the continent’s 21st century urban transition and to lay out what we do know about urban Food systems and the drivers of Food insecurity in the cities. The chapter first describes the urban transition currently under way in Africa and the main characteristics of Africa’s urban revolution. The next section examines the dimensions and challenges of urban Food insecurity in African cities. Then the chapter turns to the actual connections between Food and cities as seen through the lens of the concept of “Food Deserts.” It shows how each of the contributions to this volume illuminates different facets of the complex reality of the African urban Food desert.
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Africa’s Urban Food Deserts
Urban Forum, 2014Co-Authors: Jane Battersby, Jonathan CrushAbstract:Since the mid-1990s, the concept of the ‘urban Food desert’ has been extensively applied to deprived neighbourhoods in European and North American cities. Food Deserts are usually characterised as economically-disadvantaged areas where there is relatively poor access to healthy and affordable Food because of the absence of modern retail outlets (such as supermarkets). This idea has not been applied in any systematic way to cities of the Global South and African cities in particular. Yet African cities contain many poor neighbourhoods whose residents are far more Food insecure and malnourished than their counterparts in the North. This paper reviews some of the challenges and difficulties of conceiving of highly Food insecure areas of African cities as conventional Food Deserts. At the same time, it argues that the concept, appropriately reformulated to fit African realities of rapid urbanisation and multiple Food procurement systems, is a useful analytical tool for African urban researchers and policy-makers. Although supermarkets are becoming an important element of the Food environment in African cities, a simple focus on modern retail does not adequately capture complexity of the African Food desert. In the African context, the Food Deserts concept requires a much more sophisticated understanding of over-lapping market and non-market Food sources, of the nature and dynamism of the informal Food economy, of the inter-household differences that lead to different experiences of Food insecurity and of the Africa-specific conditions that lead to compromised diets, undernutrition and social exclusion. The papers in this special issue explore these different aspects of African Food Deserts defined as poor, often informal, urban neighbourhoods characterised by high Food insecurity and low dietary diversity, with multiple market and non-market Food sources but variable household access to Food.
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africa s urban Food Deserts
Urban Forum, 2014Co-Authors: Jane Battersby, Jonathan CrushAbstract:Since the mid-1990s, the concept of the ‘urban Food desert’ has been extensively applied to deprived neighbourhoods in European and North American cities. Food Deserts are usually characterised as economically-disadvantaged areas where there is relatively poor access to healthy and affordable Food because of the absence of modern retail outlets (such as supermarkets). This idea has not been applied in any systematic way to cities of the Global South and African cities in particular. Yet African cities contain many poor neighbourhoods whose residents are far more Food insecure and malnourished than their counterparts in the North. This paper reviews some of the challenges and difficulties of conceiving of highly Food insecure areas of African cities as conventional Food Deserts. At the same time, it argues that the concept, appropriately reformulated to fit African realities of rapid urbanisation and multiple Food procurement systems, is a useful analytical tool for African urban researchers and policy-makers. Although supermarkets are becoming an important element of the Food environment in African cities, a simple focus on modern retail does not adequately capture complexity of the African Food desert. In the African context, the Food Deserts concept requires a much more sophisticated understanding of over-lapping market and non-market Food sources, of the nature and dynamism of the informal Food economy, of the inter-household differences that lead to different experiences of Food insecurity and of the Africa-specific conditions that lead to compromised diets, undernutrition and social exclusion. The papers in this special issue explore these different aspects of African Food Deserts defined as poor, often informal, urban neighbourhoods characterised by high Food insecurity and low dietary diversity, with multiple market and non-market Food sources but variable household access to Food.
Jason P Block - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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identifying rural Food Deserts methodological considerations for Food environment interventions
Canadian Journal of Public Health-revue Canadienne De Sante Publique, 2016Co-Authors: Alexandre Lebel, David Noreau, Lucie Tremblay, Celine Oberle, Maurie Girardgadreau, Mathieu Duguay, Jason P BlockAbstract:OBJECTIVES: Food insecurity in an important public health issue and affects 13% of Canadian households. It is associated with poor accessibility to fresh, diverse and affordable Food products. However, measurement of the Food environment is challenging in rural settings since the proximity of Food supply sources is unevenly distributed. The objective of this study was to develop a methodology to identify Food Deserts in rural environments. METHODS: In-store evaluations of 25 Food products were performed for all Food stores located in four contiguous rural counties in Quebec. The quality of Food products was estimated using four indices: freshness, affordability, diversity and the relative availability. Road network distance between all residences to the closest Food store with a favourable score on the four dimensions was mapped to identify residential clusters located in deprived communities without reasonable access to a “good” Food source. The result was compared with the Food desert parameters proposed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), as well as with the perceptions of a group of regional stakeholders. RESULTS: When Food quality was considered, Food Deserts appeared more prevalent than when only the USDA definition was used. Objective measurements of the Food environment matched stakeholders’ perceptions. CONCLUSION: Food stores’ characteristics are different in rural areas and require an in-store estimation to identify potential rural Food Deserts. The objective measurements of the Food environment combined with the field knowledge of stakeholders may help to shape stronger arguments to gain the support of decision-makers to develop relevant interventions.
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moving beyond Food Deserts reorienting united states policies to reduce disparities in diet quality
PLOS Medicine, 2015Co-Authors: Jason P Block, S V SubramanianAbstract:Jason Block and S. V. Subramanian explore avenues for improving the health of Americans through reducing dietary inequalities and look at whether concern over "Food Deserts" has been taken too far.
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do residents of Food Deserts express different Food buying preferences compared to residents of Food oases a mixed methods analysis
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2012Co-Authors: Jason P Block, Renee E Walker, Ichiro KawachiAbstract:Background: Many people lack access to Food stores that provide healthful Food. Neighborhoods with poor supermarket access have been characterized as “Food Deserts” (as contrast with “Food oases”). This study explored factors influencing Food buying practices among residents of Food Deserts versus Food oases in the city of Boston, USA. Methods: We used the mixed-methods approach of concept mapping, which allows participants to identify, list, and organize their perceptions according to importance. Resulting maps visually illustrate priority areas. Results: Sixty-seven low-income adults completed the concept mapping process that identified 163 unique statements (e.g. relating to affordability, taste, and convenience) that influence Food buying practices. Multivariate statistical techniques grouped the 163 statements into 8 clusters or concepts. Results showed that average cluster ratings and rankings were similar between residents of Food Deserts and Food oases. Conclusions: The implication of this study pertains to the importance of community resources and emergency Food assistance programs that have served to minimize the burden associated with hunger and poor Food access among low-income, urban populations.
Jerry Shannon - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Rethinking Food Deserts Using Mixed-Methods GIS
2020Co-Authors: Jerry ShannonAbstract:AbstractFood Deserts-low-income neighborhoods with poor access to affordable, healthy Food- have increasingly been seen as a driver of obesity and related health conditions in urban neighborhoods. Most current research uses an approach based on a Geographic Information System, or GIS, to identify Food Deserts using store locations, but data that link Food environments to health outcomes have been inconsistent. This article outlines an alternative methodology that shifts from the proximity of healthy Food stores to the Food-provisioning practices of neighborhood residents. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research relies on several data sources: (1) geographic tracking on daily mobility created using Global Positioning System, or GPS, software on a smartphone, (2) georeferenced photographs also created using smartphones, (3) Food-shopping diaries and store receipts, and (4) semistructured qualitative interviews. The resulting analysis identified how factors ranging from perceived neighborhood disorder to available transit options shape decisions about how and where to get Food. By more explicitly focusing on the Food-provisioning strateges of low-income households and the factors that shape them, this research suggests potential pathways toward healthier, more livable cities.IntroductionBritish researchers first popularized the term Food desert in the mid-1990s (Cummins and Macintyre, 1999; Wrigley, 2002). Since that time, it has become an increasingly common way to refer to neighborhoods where nutritious Foods-most often defined as fresh produce and meats- are unavailable, of poor quality or overly expensive. In the United States, several policy initiatives have been based on this research. Pennsylvania's Fresh Food Financing Initiative, which began in 2004, was one major response to this research, providing grants and loans to improve Food-related infrastructure in areas with low Food access (Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, 2014). Many of these funds were used to expand or create new supermarkets. President Barack Obama expanded this model at the federal level by creating the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HHS, 2010). Along with the creation of these federal and state programs, several U.S. cities have created initiatives to improve Food access in low-income neighborhoods, including the creation of a Food policy task force by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (Boston Mayor's Office, 2012).Current research on Food Deserts primarily makes use of an approach based on Geographic Information Systems (GlS)-based analysis that relies on the proximity of supermarkets to residential areas (Black, Moon, and Baird, 2014; Caspi et al., 2012). This methodology is conceptually clear and relatively easy to implement. It requires census data and a listing of major Food retailers, both widely available, in addition to data on health outcomes such as body mass index, or BMI, or reported Food consumption. Recent research shows little or no association between Food Deserts and these health outcomes, however, which puts into question the efficacy of this spatial analytical approach (Cummins, Flint, and Matthews, 2014; Lee, 2012).This article describes an alternative methodology, one that moves from measures of Food proximity to the Food-provisioning practices of urban residents. This mixed-methods study combines Global Positioning System (GPS) data on daily mobility, Food-shopping diaries, georeferenced photos, and semistructured qualitative interviews. It identifies the role of other major factors affecting Food access, including perceived neighborhood disorder and store quality, the role of social networks, and the effect of available transit options. In contrast to approaches that privilege only objective analysis of geospatial data, this method is also more explicitly participator)', including the voices and perspectives of urban residents. It thus provides a useful lens on the daily Food provisioning of urban households and the factors that shape them. …
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To fix Food Deserts, we need to address transit options andsupermarket stigma
2016Co-Authors: Jerry ShannonAbstract:Policymakers have become increasingly concerned about the rise of ‘Food Deserts’ – those areas with poor access to Foods that are not highly processed and nutritionally poor. While policy solutions to address Food Deserts tend to include introducing supermarkets selling a wider range of Foods into such areas, new research from Jerry Shannon may challenge this policy. Studying the shopping habits of low-income residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he finds that Food shopping can often extend far outside of people’s neighborhoods, covering a wide array of sources, and that local supermarkets may be unattractive due to their high prices, limited selections, and the perception that they are unsafe.
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beyond the supermarket solution linking Food Deserts neighborhood context and everyday mobility
Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2016Co-Authors: Jerry ShannonAbstract:Most research on urban Food Deserts has employed spatial measures of accessibility, recording distances to various Food stores from place of residence. Despite the popularity of this approach, empirical support for its prediction of dietary and health outcomes has been inconsistent. One reason might be the ways in which Food Deserts frame Food access as fundamentally an issue of Food supply. This article suggests a complementary approach that examines how store characteristics, neighborhood context, and individual mobility interact to shape Food provisioning practices. I recruited thirty-eight participants living in two low-income neighborhoods of Minneapolis, Minnesota, tracking their daily mobility and the Food sources they used over a five-day study period. Follow-up interviews gathered more information on the Food stores used by participants. Project results show that participants were highly mobile in their Food shopping, visiting 153 different locations on 217 different shopping trips at an average ...
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Food Deserts governing obesity in the neoliberal city
Progress in Human Geography, 2014Co-Authors: Jerry ShannonAbstract:Studies of ‘Food Deserts’, neighborhoods in which healthy Food is expensive and/or difficult to find, have received much recent political attention. These studies reflect the popularity of a social...
Ulrich Jurgens - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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real versus mental Food Deserts from the consumer perspective concepts and quantitative methods applied to rural areas of germany
DIE ERDE – Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin, 2018Co-Authors: Ulrich JurgensAbstract:Developments in Food retail in Germany have for decades tended to lead to ever larger retail units, the filling of these units with ever broader and deeper product ranges, and an increasingly oligopolistic market dominated by chain stores. However, as the large chain stores only choose the ‘best possible’ sites according to population density, absolute purchasing power and transport networks, there has been a dramatic thinning out of Food-retail facilities in large, particularly rural areas. Has this made it possible to detect supply gaps or, more polemically expressed, Food Deserts? The term ‘Food Deserts’, in particular, has achieved a certain amount of acclaim in the Anglo-American context since the 2000s. However, the concept has neither been transferred to nor empirically verified for the German context. In this paper quantitative and qualitative methods are applied to investigate the situation in the rural regions of the most northerly state of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein), in order that Food Deserts no longer be understood only as ‘real’, tangible and bounded patterns arising from the thinning out of infrastructure but rather as cognitive, perceived patterns (mental Food Deserts). It is suggested that customer (groups) have long-term and varied shopping predispositions so that diverse groups no longer perceive the loss of supply options and actually create local supply gaps for others through their shopping behaviour. Cluster, discriminant and network analyses are used to complement an inventory of tangible retail facilities with ‘lived’ mental attitudes and shopping behaviour, distinctly broadening the present understanding of Food Deserts.
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‘Real’ versus ‘mental’ Food Deserts from the consumer perspective – concepts and quantitative methods applied to rural areas of Germany
DIE ERDE – Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin, 2018Co-Authors: Ulrich JurgensAbstract:Developments in Food retail in Germany have for decades tended to lead to ever larger retail units, the filling of these units with ever broader and deeper product ranges, and an increasingly oligopolistic market dominated by chain stores. However, as the large chain stores only choose the ‘best possible’ sites according to population density, absolute purchasing power and transport networks, there has been a dramatic thinning out of Food-retail facilities in large, particularly rural areas. Has this made it possible to detect supply gaps or, more polemically expressed, Food Deserts? The term ‘Food Deserts’, in particular, has achieved a certain amount of acclaim in the Anglo-American context since the 2000s. However, the concept has neither been transferred to nor empirically verified for the German context. In this paper quantitative and qualitative methods are applied to investigate the situation in the rural regions of the most northerly state of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein), in order that Food Deserts no longer be understood only as ‘real’, tangible and bounded patterns arising from the thinning out of infrastructure but rather as cognitive, perceived patterns (mental Food Deserts). It is suggested that customer (groups) have long-term and varied shopping predispositions so that diverse groups no longer perceive the loss of supply options and actually create local supply gaps for others through their shopping behaviour. Cluster, discriminant and network analyses are used to complement an inventory of tangible retail facilities with ‘lived’ mental attitudes and shopping behaviour, distinctly broadening the present understanding of Food Deserts.
S V Subramanian - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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moving beyond Food Deserts reorienting united states policies to reduce disparities in diet quality
PLOS Medicine, 2015Co-Authors: Jason P Block, S V SubramanianAbstract:Jason Block and S. V. Subramanian explore avenues for improving the health of Americans through reducing dietary inequalities and look at whether concern over "Food Deserts" has been taken too far.
