UrbanFoodDesert:AnInves2ga2onoftheUniversityofAlaskaAnchorageMainCampus’AccessibilitytoHealthfulFoodResources

By:WhitneyLowell,EnvironmentandSociety

FacultyAdvisor:Dr.ChadR.Farrell,DepartmentofSociology Introduc2on

HavingaccesstoaffordablenutriFousfoodssuchasfruits,vegetablesandotherwholefoodsisacrucialcomponenttohealthyandthrivingcommuniFes.Unfortunately,inurbanareas,nutriFousfoodisnotalwaysreadilyaccessible.Whenhealthyfoodisnotaccessibletoanarea,itisknownasanurbanfooddesert.ThisstudyisapreliminarydescripFveanalysisoftheaccessibilityandwalk-abilitytosurroundinghealthfulfoodsourcesfromtheUniversityofAlaskaAnchoragemaincampus.ThegoalofthisresearchistodeterminewhetherUAAislocatedinanurbanfooddesert.

Methods

Findings

Considera2onsWhyisUAAconsideredanurbanfooddesertiffoodisavailabletostudents,staffandfacultyoncampus?IniFally,thisisnotanunreasonablequesFon,however,anargumentcouldbemadethatthemajorityoffoodavailableoncampusisconsidered“fastfood”or“junkfoods.”Availabilitytohealthfulfoodsarenotconsistent,norreasonablypriced.UAAismakingclearstridestomakemorehealthfulchoicesavailableoncampus.AshiningexampleofthiseffortisseenthroughEnvironmentandSociety(E&S)seniorDevinJohnson’scollaboraFonwithE&SgraduateKylaByersofArcFcHarvest.LocallygrownproduceisforsaleinthelobbyoftheSocialSciencesBuildingeveryThursday.UAAwouldgreatlybenefitfromhavingconsistentandfrequentaccesstolocalfoodsourcessuchasArcFcHarvest.

*FurtherinvesFgaFonthroughsurveyingthestudentbody,universityemployeesandanalyzingcensustractdatainsurroundingneighborhoodsisneededtoobtainabe[erunderstandingoffoodchoicesavailabletoUAA.



Forthescopeofthisanalysis,thedefiniFonofan“urbanfooddesert”reliesontheU.S.DepartmentofAgriculture’sterminology.

InaddiFon,useoftheUSDA’sFoodAccessResearchAtlashelpsillustratetheaccessibilityofhealthfulfoodresourcesfromtheUAACampus.

WalkScoreisaninteracFvewebsitethatallowsapersontoenteranyaddressandreceivethatarea’s“walk-ability”score.

GoogleEarthprovidesavisualrepresentaFonofthegeographicallocaFonsofgrocerystoresinrelaFontoUAA.

*Restaurantsarenotincludedinthispreliminarystudy,astheydonotfittheUSDA’sdescripFonofaccesstohealthfulfood,suchasfreshfruits,vegetablesandwholefoods.

ApplicaFonofGooglemapswasusedtocalculateFmeoftravelanddistancetonearbygrocerystoresfromtheUAAmaincampus.CalculaFonswerebasedonwalking,bicycling,takingpublictransitordrivingavehicle.

HowdoesWalkScoremeasurewalk-ability?•  Pointsareawardedbasedondistanceto

ameniFes.•  AmeniFeswithinafiveminutewalkoraquarterof

amile,aregivenmaximumpoints.•  NopointsaregiventoameniFesovera30minute

walk

UAArankslowonthewalk-abilityscaleaccordingtowalkscore.com.Rankingsareonascalefrom0to100.

ThelowertherankingthehigherthedependabilityonvehiclestoaccessameniFes,suchasgrocerystores.

NinegrocerystoresnearestUAAwerefoundtobeoveronemile.TransitFmesdecreaseasthemodeoftransportaFonbecomesmoreefficient.Vehicle-dependencyisclearlyneededforeaseofaccesstohealthfulfoodsources.PerthedefiniFonof“lowaccess”providedbytheUSDA,UAAappearstobeinanurbanfooddesert.

GoogleEarthgivesanaccurategeographicalrepresentaFonofthelocaFonsofgrocerystoresinrelaFontoUAA.

UAAinNeedThroughtheresearchinthisdescripFveanalysis,itisapparentthatfurtherinvesFgaFonisneededtobe[eridenFfyavailabilityandaccesstohealthfulfoodresourcesnearandontheUAAmaincampus.AccordingtotheUSDA’sFoodAccessResearchAtlas,UAAandthesurroundingUMedareaisconsidered“low-access.”

*ItisimportanttonotethatsomecensustractscontainsupermarketsorgrocerystoresandsFllmeetthecriteriaofanurbanfooddesertifasubstanFalnumberofpeoplewithinthatcensustractismorethanonemilefromthenearestgrocerystoreregardlessofincome.

Studentslivingoncampusareatadisadvantageiftheydonotownavehicle,abicycleorhavetheabilitytotakepublictransit.WalkingisnotaviableopFonforallstudentslivingoncampus,norisitaviableopFonforthoseworkingontheUAAcampus.Therealitythatallgrocerystoresareoveramileawayfromthemaincampusisalarming.ThisraisesquesFonsabouthowthoseoncampusaregefngaccesstohealthy,nutriFousfoods.

Whatisanurbanfooddesert?

TheUSDepartmentofAgriculture(USDA)hasmanymeasuresofaccesstodefineanurbanfooddesert.IndicaFonsofafooddesertare:

1.  Limitedaccesstosupermarkets,supercenters,grocerystoresorothersourcesofhealthyandaffordablefoodthatprovideahealthydiet

2.  DistanceorthenumberofstoresinanareainrelaFontoaneighborhood

3.  Individual-levelresourcesthatmayaffectaccessibility,suchasfamilyincomeorvehicleavailability

4.  Neighborhood-levelindicatorsofresources,suchastheaverageincomeoftheneighborhoodandtheavailabilityofpublictransportaFon.

ToqualifyasalowaccessareabytheUSDAatleast500peopleoratleast33percentofthecensustract’spopula2onmustresidemorethanonemilefromasupermarketinanurbanarea.

UAAisanunlikelylocaFonforafooddesertsinceitisaneducaFonalinsFtuFonsurroundedbypredominantlymiddleincomeearningneighborhoodsandmedicalfaciliFes.DispariFesaretypicallyseeninlowerincomeneighborhoodswithlimitedmobilityandaccesstonearbygrocerystores.