Larsen Kristian, Gilliland Jason
The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2, Canada.
Int J Health Geogr. 2008 Apr 18;7:16. doi: 10.1186/1476-072X-7-16.
A growing body of research suggests that the suburbanization of food retailers in North America and the United Kingdom in recent decades has contributed to the emergence of urban 'food deserts', or disadvantaged areas of cities with relatively poor access to healthy and affordable food. This paper explores the evolution of food deserts in a mid-sized Canadian city (London, Ontario) by using a geographic information system (GIS) to map the precise locations of supermarkets in 1961 and 2005; multiple techniques of network analysis were used to assess changing levels of supermarket access in relation to neighbourhood location, socioeconomic characteristics, and access to public transit.
The findings indicate that residents of inner-city neighbourhoods of low socioeconomic status have the poorest access to supermarkets. Furthermore, spatial inequalities in access to supermarkets have increased over time, particularly in the inner-city neighbourhoods of Central and East London, where distinct urban food deserts now exist.
Contrary to recent findings in larger Canadian cities, we conclude that urban food deserts exist in London, Ontario. Policies aimed at improving public health must also recognize the spatial, as well as socioeconomic, inequities with respect to access to healthy and affordable food. Additional research is necessary to better understand how supermarket access influences dietary behaviours and related health outcomes.
越来越多的研究表明，近几十年来，北美和英国食品零售商的郊区化导致了城市“食品荒漠”的出现，即城市中难以获得健康且价格合理食品的贫困地区。本文通过使用地理信息系统（GIS）绘制1961年和2005年超市的精确位置，探讨了加拿大一个中等规模城市（安大略省伦敦市）食品荒漠的演变；运用多种网络分析技术评估了与邻里位置、社会经济特征以及公共交通可达性相关的超市可达性变化水平。
研究结果表明，社会经济地位较低的市中心社区居民获得超市服务的机会最差。此外，随着时间的推移，超市可达性的空间不平等加剧，尤其是在伦敦市中心和东部的市中心社区，现在那里存在明显的城市食品荒漠。
与加拿大较大城市的最新研究结果相反，我们得出结论，安大略省伦敦市存在城市食品荒漠。旨在改善公众健康的政策还必须认识到在获取健康且价格合理食品方面存在的空间以及社会经济不平等。有必要进行更多研究，以更好地了解超市可达性如何影响饮食行为和相关健康结果。
