Spatial, Temporal, and Transit Access to Emergency Food Providers

Abstract

This research brings together concerns of food environments, food insecurity, and food access to demonstrate four measures of access for an emergency food provider network. Based on the interacting concerns of accessibility and accommodation, the measures are proximity, segment coverage, transit access, and transit time. Proximity measures geographic access, whereas segment coverage focuses on access at different times of the day, on different days of the week, during different weeks of the month. The two transit measures use the region’s actual transit network scheduling to address space–time access via transit. The measures are applied to the food pantry network of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Each demonstrates a unique nuance of access in the emergency food provider context, providing useful inputs into the process of meeting a community’s emergency food needs.

本研究综合粮食环境、粮食危机和粮食获取等要素, 展示了应急粮食供应网络的四个获取指标。考虑到粮食获取和粮食调配的相互影响, 这四个指标包括邻近性、时间段、公交使用和公交时间。邻近性评价地理距离, 时间段侧重一天中的不同时间段、一周内的不同天、一个月中的不同星期。两项公交指标则基于地区公交网络调度, 研究公交的使用情况。这四个指标在美国俄亥俄州Cuyahoga县粮食储备网络中得到了应用。每一个指标都展现了获得应急粮食供应的不同而细微的差别, 为满足社区应急粮食需求提供了有益见解。

En esta investigación se abocan el interés conjunto por los entornos alimentarios, la inseguridad alimentaria y el acceso a los alimentos para demostrar cuatro mediciones de accesibilidad para una red de emergencia de proveedores de alimentos. Con base en las preocupaciones interactuantes de accesibilidad y acomodación, las medidas a considerar son la proximidad, la cobertura por segmentos, el acceso al tránsito, y el tiempo de tránsito. La proximidad mide el acceso geográfico en tanto que la cobertura por segmento está enfocada en el acceso en tiempos diferentes del día, en días diferentes de la semana, durante diferentes semanas del mes. Las dos medidas del tránsito usan la agenda real de la red de tránsito de la región para enfrentar el acceso al espacio–tiempo a través del tránsito. Las medidas están aplicadas a la red de bodegas para alimentos del Condado Cuyahoga, Ohio. Cada una demuestra un matiz de acceso único en el contexto de la emergencia del proveedor de alimentos, entregando insumos útiles en el proceso de enfrentar la emergencia en las necesidades alimentarias de una comunidad.

Key Words:

• emergency food providers
• food insecurity
• pantries
• space–time access
• transit

关键词:

• 应急粮食供应
• 粮食危机
• 粮食储备
• 时空获取
• 公交。

Palabras clave:

• acceso al espacio-tiempo
• bodegas
• inseguridad alimentaria
• proveedores de alimentos de emergencia
• tránsito

Acknowledgments

I thank the President and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, who made available the data analyzed herein. Olivia Helander provided excellent research assistance. Alex Murdock, Laurie Mook, Craig Gundersen, the editor, and anonymous reviewers all provided insightful comments on this research.

Notes

1 Based on their analysis of the Tucson metropolitan area, Bao and Tong (2017) found that the use of tracts and block groups, as opposed to blocks, resulted in a higher estimates of food access. Although the accessibility methods used here differ from the Tucson analysis, it is nonetheless an important reminder of the potential impact of aggregation and scale in analyses relying on spatial data.

2 A distribution could be classified into two segments if its hours dictate it. For example, a distribution occurring on the first Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. would fall into both the first Saturday morning segment and the first Saturday afternoon segment. In accounting for that distribution’s hours, however, they would be divided appropriately between segments (one hour in the first Saturday morning segment and two hours in the first Saturday afternoon segment).

3 Some double counting is present here. If a distribution spanned two time segments, it is counted in both.

4 Note that the last four boxes have no data, because the fifth Tuesday was the last day of October.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brian A. Mikelbank

BRIAN A. MIKELBANK is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Studies at Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44115. E-mail: [email protected]. His research focuses on urban spatial process, with particular interests in the dynamics of urban–suburban change and metropolitan housing markets.