Food deserts are places in the urban environment of otherwise developed nations that are poorly served by access to healthful food. This include fruits, vegetables and other health food needed for daily diet. A situation like this is going to cause high cost of transportation and poor diet. In this article, using GIS to examine and refine the discussion of food deserts and to measure the costs of distance for consumers. The author chose a small city, Lawrence, Kansas, USA. By applying the technique to measure the total cost of travel to obtain groceries, and then compare those costs with total expenditures on food to identify areas in which residents need to spend a disproportionate share of their time or income to obtain food.
Where TCd 1⁄4 = total cost, driving; TCw = 1⁄4 total cost, walking; cpm =1⁄4 U.S, Internal Revenue Service value for cost of operating a motor vehicle; m = 1⁄4 miles to nearest full-service food outlet by road network; fmw = 1⁄4 U.S. federal minimum wage; vw = 1⁄4 velocity, walking.
Hallett, L. F., & McDermott, D. (2011). Quantifying the extent and cost of food deserts in Lawrence, Kansas, USA. Applied Geography, 31(4), 1210-1215.
I wonder what the correlation is between states with a lot of agriculture and states that have many "food deserts," if there is one. I think that with the mapping of food deserts, societies could disperse healthful food more evenly to ensure that everyone has access to quality, nutritious food.
ReplyDelete