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Urban Food Desert: An Inves2ga2on of the University of Alaska Anchorage Main Campus’ Accessibility to Healthful Food Resources By: Whitney Lowell, Environment and Society Faculty Advisor: Dr. Chad R. Farrell, Department of Sociology Introduc2on Having access to affordable nutriFous foods such as fruits, vegetables and other whole foods is a crucial component to healthy and thriving communiFes. Unfortunately, in urban areas, nutriFous food is not always readily accessible. When healthy food is not accessible to an area, it is known as an urban food desert. This study is a preliminary descripFve analysis of the accessibility and walk-ability to surrounding healthful food sources from the University of Alaska Anchorage main campus. The goal of this research is to determine whether UAA is located in an urban food desert. Methods Findings Considera2ons Why is UAA considered an urban food desert if food is available to students, staff and faculty on campus? IniFally, this is not an unreasonable quesFon, however, an argument could be made that the majority of food available on campus is considered “fast food” or “junk foods.” Availability to healthful foods are not consistent, nor reasonably priced. UAA is making clear strides to make more healthful choices available on campus. A shining example of this effort is seen through Environment and Society (E&S) senior Devin Johnson’s collaboraFon with E&S graduate Kyla Byers of ArcFc Harvest. Locally grown produce is for sale in the lobby of the Social Sciences Building every Thursday. UAA would greatly benefit from having consistent and frequent access to local food sources such as ArcFc Harvest. * Further invesFgaFon through surveying the student body, university employees and analyzing census tract data in surrounding neighborhoods is needed to obtain a be[er understanding of food choices available to UAA. For the scope of this analysis, the definiFon of an “urban food desert” relies on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s terminology. In addiFon, use of the USDA’s Food Access Research Atlas helps illustrate the accessibility of healthful food resources from the UAA Campus. Walk Score is an interacFve web site that allows a person to enter any address and receive that area’s “walk-ability” score. Google Earth provides a visual representaFon of the geographical locaFons of grocery stores in relaFon to UAA. *Restaurants are not included in this preliminary study, as they do not fit the USDA’s descripFon of access to healthful food, such as fresh fruits, vegetables and whole foods. ApplicaFon of Google maps was used to calculate Fme of travel and distance to nearby grocery stores from the UAA main campus. CalculaFons were based on walking, bicycling, taking public transit or driving a vehicle. How does Walk Score measure walk-ability? • Points are awarded based on distance to ameniFes. • AmeniFes within a five minute walk or a quarter of a mile, are given maximum points. • No points are given to ameniFes over a 30 minute walk UAA ranks low on the walk- ability scale according to walkscore.com. Rankings are on a scale from 0 to 100. The lower the ranking the higher the dependability on vehicles to access ameniFes, such as grocery stores. Nine grocery stores nearest UAA were found to be over one mile. Transit Fmes decrease as the mode of transportaFon becomes more efficient. Vehicle- dependency is clearly needed for ease of access to healthful food sources. Per the definiFon of “low access” provided by the USDA, UAA appears to be in an urban food desert. Google Earth gives an accurate geographical representaFon of the locaFons of grocery stores in relaFon to UAA. UAA in Need Through the research in this descripFve analysis, it is apparent that further invesFgaFon is needed to be[er idenFfy availability and access to healthful food resources near and on the UAA main campus. According to the USDA’s Food Access Research Atlas, UAA and the surrounding UMed area is considered “low-access.” *It is important to note that some census tracts contain supermarkets or grocery stores and sFll meet the criteria of an urban food desert if a substanFal number of people within that census tract is more than one mile from the nearest grocery store regardless of income. Students living on campus are at a disadvantage if they do not own a vehicle, a bicycle or have the ability to take public transit. Walking is not a viable opFon for all students living on campus, nor is it a viable opFon for those working on the UAA campus. The reality that all grocery stores are over a mile away from the main campus is alarming. This raises quesFons about how those on campus are gefng access to healthy, nutriFous foods. What is an urban food desert? The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has many measures of access to define an urban food desert. IndicaFons of a food desert are: 1. Limited access to supermarkets, supercenters, grocery stores or other sources of healthy and affordable food that provide a healthy diet 2. Distance or the number of stores in an area in relaFon to a neighborhood 3. Individual-level resources that may affect accessibility, such as family income or vehicle availability 4. Neighborhood-level indicators of resources, such as the average income of the neighborhood and the availability of public transportaFon. To qualify as a low access area by the USDA at least 500 people or at least 33 percent of the census tract’s popula2on must reside more than one mile from a supermarket in an urban area. UAA is an unlikely locaFon for a food desert since it is an educaFonal insFtuFon surrounded by predominantly middle income earning neighborhoods and medical faciliFes. DispariFes are typically seen in lower income neighborhoods with limited mobility and access to nearby grocery stores.

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Page 1: Urban Food Desert

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.

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