Urban Food Access Disparity (Food Deserts)
BACK TO: Food Security Issues
When people and jobs moved out of the central cities to the suburbs in the 1950’s, grocery stores went with them; and despite the fact that the population in America’s central cities doubled between 1970 and 1990, the number of grocery stores in the inner city remained small. This trend has not been significantly reversed. This deficiency is compounded by the fact that low-income people have less money to spend on food and own fewer cars.
The supermarket divide is not just an economic divide—it is a racial divide as well. Researchers have found that the divide in supermarket access was not just between low and high-income neighborhoods (the prevalence of supermarkets in high-income neighborhoods was found to be three times that of low-income neighborhoods) but between predominately black and white neighborhoods, with the latter experiencing four times as many supermarkets as black neighborhoods.
Access to fresh, quality, and affordable food is a crucial community, health, and quality-of-life concern. The wisdom of the shopper and the communities in which he or she resides, as well as the policies established by the city, and the investment and operational insights of the market developers, need to be part of the process of change; change that is not only promised but realized.
- Urban and Environmental Policy Institute
- New York Times Editorial, March 20, 2009
Fresh Food for Urban Deserts
- City of New York
F.R.E.S.H.: Food Retail Expansion to Support Health
- New York City Department of City Planning
Going to Market: New York City’s Neighborhood Grocery Store and Supermarket Shortage
- Harlem Food and Fitness Consortium
Supermarket Closings in East and Central Harlem:
A report on food justice and food resources
- Columbia University Built Environment and Health Project
Measuring Food Access in Urban Areas
- Wayne State University
Attracting Supermarkets to Inner-City Neighborhoods: Economic Development Outside the Box
- American Journal of Preventative Medicine
Neighborhood Characteristics Associated with the Location of Food Stores and Food Service Places
Neighborhood Environments: Disparities in Access to Healthy Foods in the U.S.
- The Food Trust
The Need for More Supermarkets in New York
Food Geography: How Food Access Affects Diet and Health
Closing the Grocery Gap in Underserved Communities: The Creation of the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative
- Hartford Food System
Connecticut’s Supermarkets: Can New Strategies Address the Geographic Gaps?
- Healthy Eating Research
Restaurant Realities: Inequalities in Access to Healthy Restaurant Choices
Bringing healthy foods home: Examining inequalities in access to food stores
- Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
10 ways to get healthy, local foods into low-income neighborhoods: A Minneapolis resource guide
- Center for Food and Justice, Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI), Occidental College
The persistence of L.A.’s grocery gap: The need for a new food policy and approach to market development
- Food First and Public Health Law and Policy
Oakland Food Retail Impact Study
