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

这一博士论文研究项目考虑了影响市中心城市环境中食品可获得性和采购实践的因素。最近在地理学和相关领域对城市食物获取的研究集中于食物沙漠的存在：在城市地区，各种健康的非加工食品，如新鲜水果和蔬菜，要么过于昂贵，要么难以获得。这些研究通常通过基于距离的衡量标准来衡量食物沙漠的存在，例如到最近的超市的距离，以及社会经济地位等人口统计特征。结果已被用作地方、州和国家各级改善食品可获得性倡议的基础。虽然这项研究广泛关注健康食品的供应，但关于附近居民的食品消费行为的空间具体数据基本上还没有。这项研究项目以明尼阿波利斯/圣保罗这两个城市为基础，通过关注影响低收入城市社区食品采购做法的一系列因素来探讨这一问题。它采用混合方法，包括两个主要组成部分。首先，它使用基于地理信息系统的分析，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)--的福利支付和兑换的分类数据进行分析。对这两个数据集的收益使用情况的分析将与传统邻居分析的结果进行比较，并将分析具有大量计划客户的地区的收益使用情况。其次，该项目将利用GPS跟踪、食物日记和半结构化访谈，与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对居民获得食物的具体物质、文化和经济限制，以及种族/阶级认同、社会网络和道德规范在塑造空间食物采购做法方面的作用。该项目通过将很少使用的食品援助计划的数据整合到食品可获得性模型中，为研究城市居民与其邻近的食品环境之间的关系提供了一种新的方法。通过将这些信息添加到对距离如何以及为什么对社区居民的食品采购产生影响的分析中，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。这个项目还突出了个人的关键作用？他们在哪里以及如何获得食物的决定上的社会立场。这个项目没有像许多研究项目所假设的那样，假设人口在很大程度上是同质的、固定的和被动的，而是专注于低收入社区内食品采购做法的异质性。在这样做的过程中，该项目可能会提出改善这些地区粮食安全的多种途径，扩大关于如何最好地界定公正和公平的粮食系统以及如何衡量拟议干预措施的成功的对话。作为博士论文研究改进奖，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。

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.