Time-Geographic Project of Household Food Provision: Conceptualization and a Pilot Case Study

Abstract

Geographers and health researchers routinely analyze data on food-related behaviors to understand potential relationships between the food environment and diet. Analytical uncertainties arise, however, from discounting the sequential connections and household coordination of various food tasks. This study employed the time-geographic construct of the project, which is defined as a series of goal-oriented activities conducted by one or more individuals, to understand the composition and influencing factors of household food provision. To demonstrate the usefulness of the project concept, this study delineated how food activities were woven into a select couple’s daily life paths with the aid of sequence visualizations, and developed an analytical test case using time-use diaries of coupled adults living in Toronto, Canada. Ten dinner project archetypes were identified with distinct characteristics of activity composition and coordination. The study further explored how the dinner project archetypes were related to geographic food environments and meal consumption. By employing the project concept in research on food environments, the interconnectedness between various diet-related activities and diverse patterns of coordination between household members can be captured. Finally, a discussion on how the project perspective can improve the understanding of food environments and healthy eating was presented.

地理学家和健康研究人员经常通过对食品行为数据的分析, 旨在了解食品环境和饮食之间的潜在关系。然而, 由于没有充分考虑到各种食品任务的序列关系和家庭协调, 数据分析存在着不确定性。本文将个人或多人的目标驱动的系列活动做为“项目”（project）。通过项目的时间地理结构, 去了解家庭食品供应的构成和影响因素。为了证明项目概念的可用性, 本文借助序列可视化, 描述了食品活动如何融入一对夫妻的日常生活轨迹。本文利用加拿大多伦多成年夫妻的时间日记, 研究了一个检验分析案例。确定了具有不同活动形式和活动协调的10个晚餐项目原型。本文进一步探讨了晚餐项目原型与食品地理环境和饮食消费的关系。在食品环境研究中采用项目概念, 可以捕捉到各种饮食活动和各种家庭成员协调模式的关系。最后, 本文讨论了项目视角如何推动了对食品环境和健康饮食的理解。

Rutinariamente, los geógrafos y los investigadores de la salud analizan los datos sobre los comportamientos relacionados con los alimentos para entender las posibles relaciones entre el entorno alimentario y la dieta. Sin embargo, surgen incertidumbres analíticas al desconocerse las conexiones secuenciales y la coordinación doméstica de diversas tareas alimentarias. Este estudio empleó el constructo temporal–geográfico del proyecto, que se define como una serie de actividades orientadas a objetivos, llevadas a efecto por uno o más individuos, para entender la composición y los factores que influyen en el suministro de alimentos para el hogar. Para demostrar la utilidad del concepto de proyecto, este estudio hizo la delineación del modo como las actividades alimentarias se incorporan en las trayectorias de la vida cotidiana de una pareja, seleccionada con la ayuda de visualizaciones de secuencia, y desarrolló un caso de prueba analítica usando los diarios de uso del tiempo de adultos en pareja que residen en Toronto, Canadá. Diez arquetipos de proyectos de cena fueron identificados, los cuales exhibían diferentes características de composición y coordinación de actividades. El estudio exploró además el modo como los arquetipos de proyectos de cena fueron relacionados con entornos alimentarios geográficos y con el consumo de comidas. Empleando el concepto de proyecto en la investigación de entornos alimentarios, se puede captar la interconexión entre varias actividades relacionadas con la dieta y diversos patrones de coordinación entre los miembros de la familia. Finalmente, se presentó una discusión sobre cómo la perspectiva del proyecto puede mejorar el entendimiento de los entornos alimentarios y la alimentación saludable.

Key Words:

• diet
• food behavior
• food environment
• household labor division
• time geography

关键词:

• 饮食
• 食品行为
• 食品环境
• 家庭分工
• 时间地理

Palabras clave:

• comportamiento alimentario
• dieta
• división del trabajo en el hogar
• entorno alimentario
• geografía del tiempo

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the research assistants, community members, and study participants who helped make this project happen. The authors highly appreciate the anonymous reviewers’ helpful comments on our article.

Additional information

Funding

Bochu Liu was supported by the Maple Leaf Board Scholarship in Food Insecurity honored by the Maple Leaf Centre for Action on Food Security. The Food Activities, Socioeconomics, Time-use, and Transportation (FASTT) Study is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. In addition, this research was undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the Canada Research Chairs Program and the Ontario Early Researcher Award received by Michael J. Widener.

Notes on contributors

Bochu Liu

BOCHU LIU is a PhD Graduate from the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto–St. George, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include health geography, healthy cities, and time geography.

Michael J. Widener

MICHAEL J. WIDENER is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Transportation and Health, University of Toronto–St. George, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include food environments, health geography, transportation, and cities.

Lindsey G. Smith

LINDSEY G. SMITH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto–St. George, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research focuses on food and physical activity environments and their relationships with health behaviors.

Steven Farber

STEVEN FARBER is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Geography, University of Toronto–Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include transportation and spatial analysis.

Dionne Gesink

DIONNE GESINK is a Professor and Associate Dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5T 3M7, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research investigates the social epidemiology of sexual health, including the spatial movement of diseases and ideas through social and sexual networks.

Leia M. Minaker

LEIA M. MINAKER is an Associate Professor in the School of Planning, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 2T1, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include environmental determinants of health, and public health and planning, in particular as they relate to food access, mental health, and health behavior.

Zachary Patterson

ZACHARY PATTERSON is an Associate Professor at the Concordia Institute of Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, QC H3G 1M8, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research focuses on the use of emerging technologies in transportation data collection, geographic information systems, artificial intelligence, and statistical analysis.

Kristian Larsen

KRISTIAN LARSEN is a Research Scientist at CAREX Canada, Faculty of Medicine, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Sessional Lecturer II in the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada; and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research examines relationships between the environment and health with a focus on chronic disease and cancer prevention.

Jason Gilliland

JASON GILLILAND is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment and Director of the Urban Development Program, Western University, London, ON N6A 5K6, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include children’s geographies, food environments, and healthy cities.