Doctoral Dissertation Research: Food Procurement Practices in Low-Income Urban Neighborhoods

博士论文研究：低收入城市社区的食品采购实践

• 批准号: 1203612
• 负责人: Helga Leitner
• 金额: $ 1.19万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-06-01 至 2014-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1203612&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Food; Procurement

This doctoral dissertation research project considers the factors that contribute to food availability and procurement practices in inner city urban environments. Recent research on urban food access in geography and related fields has focused on the presence of food deserts: areas in cities where healthy variety of non-processed foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables are either too expensive or difficult to obtain. These studies often measure the presence of food deserts through distance-based metrics, such as distance to the nearest supermarket, and demographic characteristics such as socio-economic status. Results have been used as the basis for initiatives at the local, state, and national levels to improve food accessibility. While the research has focused extensively on the supply of healthy foods, spatially specific data on the food consumption practices of neighborhood residents has been largely absent. This research project, based in the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, takes up this issue by focusing on the range of factors influencing food procurement practices in low-income urban neighborhoods. It utilizes a mixed-methods approach with two main components. First, it uses a GIS based analysis of disaggregated data on benefit disbursement and redemption from two federal food assistance programs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Children, and Infants (WIC). The analysis of benefit usage from these two datasets will be compared against results of a conventional neighborhood analysis and benefit usage in areas with high numbers of program clients will be analyzed. Second, the project will conduct an in-depth study with residents in two case study neighborhoods utilizing GPS tracking, food diaries, and semi-structured interviews. This section of the project will identify specific physical, cultural, and economic constraints on residents' access to food and the role of racial/class identities, social networks, and ethical norms in shaping spatial food procurement practices. This project offers a new approach to the study of the relationship between urban residents and their neighborhood food environments by integrating rarely used data on food assistance programs into models of food accessibility. By adding this information to an analysis of how and why distance matters to neighborhood residents in their food procurement, better information will be available for policy and planning initiatives meant to facilitate easier access to healthy foods. This project also highlights the key role of individuals? social positions on their decisions about where and how to get food. Rather than assuming a largely homogenous, immobile, and passive population, as is assumed in many research projects to date, this project focuses on the heterogeneity of food procurement practices within low-income neighborhoods. In doing so, this project may suggest multiple pathways by which to improve food security in these areas, broadening the conversation about how to best define a just and fair food system and how to measure the success of proposed interventions. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish an independent research career.

该博士论文研究项目考虑了影响市中心环境中粮食供应和采购实践的因素。 最近在地理学和相关领域对城市食物获取的研究重点关注食物荒漠的存在：在城市中，新鲜水果和蔬菜等各种健康的非加工食品要么太贵，要么很难获得。这些研究通常通过基于距离的指标（例如到最近超市的距离）以及社会经济地位等人口特征来衡量食物荒漠的存在。结果已被用作地方、州和国家各级改善食品可及性举措的基础。虽然研究广泛关注健康食品的供应，但基本上缺乏有关社区居民食品消费行为的空间具体数据。该研究项目位于明尼阿波利斯/圣路易斯双城。 Paul 通过关注影响低收入城市社区食品采购实践的一系列因素来解决这个问题。它采用具有两个主要组成部分的混合方法。首先，它使用基于 GIS 的方法对两个联邦粮食援助计划（补充营养援助计划（SNAP，以前称为食品券）和妇女、儿童和婴儿特别补充营养计划 (WIC)）福利支付和兑现的分类数据进行分析。对这两个数据集的福利使用情况的分析将与传统社区分析的结果进行比较，并且将分析计划客户数量较多的地区的福利使用情况。其次，该项目将利用 GPS 跟踪、食物日记和半结构化访谈对两个案例研究社区的居民进行深入研究。该项目的这一部分将确定居民获取食物的具体物理、文化和经济限制，以及种族/阶级身份、社会网络和道德规范在塑造空间食品采购实践中的作用。该项目通过将很少使用的粮食援助计划数据整合到粮食可及性模型中，为研究城市居民与其邻里粮食环境之间的关系提供了一种新方法。通过将这些信息添加到分析距离如何以及为何对社区居民在食品采购中产生重要影响，将为旨在促进更容易获得健康食品的政策和规划举措提供更好的信息。这个项目还凸显了个人的关键作用吗？社会地位影响他们决定去哪里以及如何获取食物。该项目并没有像迄今为止许多研究项目所假设的那样，假设人口基本上是同质的、流动的和被动的，而是侧重于低收入社区内食品采购实践的异质性。在此过程中，该项目可能会提出多种途径来改善这些领域的粮食安全，扩大关于如何最好地定义公正和公平的粮食系统以及如何衡量拟议干预措施成功与否的对话。作为博士论文研究进步奖，该奖项还将为有前途的学生建立独立的研究生涯提供支持。