SNAPScapes: Using Geodemographic Segmentation to Classify the Food Access Landscape

Scholars are in agreement that the local food environment is shaped by a multitude of factors from socioeconomic characteristics to transportation options, as well as the availability and distance to various food establishments. Despite this, most place-based indicators of “food deserts”, including those identified as so by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), only include a limited number of factors in their designation. In this article, we adopt a geodemographic approach to classifying the food access landscape that takes a multivariate approach to describing the food access landscape. Our method combines socioeconomic indicators, distance measurements to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participating stores, and neighborhood walkability using a k-means clustering approach and North Carolina as a case study. We identified seven distinct food access types: three rural and four urban. These classes were subsequently prioritized based on their defining characteristics and specific policy recommendations were identified. Overall, compared to the USDA’s food desert calculation, our approach identified a broader swath of high-needs areas and highlights neighborhoods that may be overlooked for intervention when using simple distance-based methods

The Increasing Sociospatial Fragmentation of Urban America

This analysis examines the spatial fragmentation of the urban landscape with respect to neighborhoods classified according to their racial, demographic, housing and socioeconomic characteristics. The analysis is performed on the 50 largest metropolitan areas throughout the United States from 1990–2010, and looks at both global trends over time using a landscape ecology metric of edge density to quantify fragmentation over time. It then analyzes the spatial clustering of each neighborhood type over time, for each city. Results illustrate an increasingly fragmented urban landscape with respect to neighborhood type, led by Los Angeles as the most fragmented metropolitan area. Decomposed by neighborhood type, both racially concentrated high-poverty neighborhoods, as well as neighborhoods with a highly educated population, have increased in spatial concentration in large cities over time, exposing rises in spatial inequalities even as global patterns suggest a breaking up of neighborhood types. The global patterns are therefore driven by declines in more moderate-income and multiethnic neighborhoods, and a decline in the spatial concentration of newer, white, single-family housing neighborhoods

Elizabeth C. Delmelle's Quick Files

The Quick Files feature was discontinued and it’s files were migrated into this Project on March 11, 2022. The file URL’s will still resolve properly, and the Quick Files logs are available in the Project’s Recent Activity

Impact of new rail transit stations on neighborhood destination choices and income segregation

This article examines the neighborhood destination choices made by movers in neighborhoods affected by rail transit investments in the United States between 1970 and 2013 using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The results suggest that of those that move following the placement of a new rail transit station, low-income individuals are more likely to move to more disadvantaged neighborhoods following rail transit investments in their neighborhood when a small share of the neighborhood is covered by the station\u27s service area. If the origin neighborhood is more accessible to the station however, lower-income residents are equally likely to move within the same neighborhood or to a neighborhood of similar socioeconomic status. Middle-to-high income individuals that relocated, particularly homeowners, are more likely to move to higher income neighborhoods, particularly within a few years before opening. These results contribute to the ongoing debate regarding transit-induced gentrification, affordable housing in transit-oriented developments, and public transit\u27s role in shaping residential location choice and subsequent income segregation patterns

On the link between rail transit and spatial income segregation

The link between transportation infrastructure and income segregation has long been recognized in the literature, but has received renewed attention with the increased investment in rail transit in US cities. In this paper, we examine the impacts of rail transit investments on neighborhood income diversity and metropolitan income segregation. For the neighborhood-level analysis, we apply a difference-in-difference approach combined with propensity score matching in 11 metropolitan areas that invested in rail transit between 2000 and 2005. We then estimate the effect of changes in rail transit access on income segregation across the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the US between 1990 and 2010. We find no statistical evidence that rail transit investments spur changes in neighborhood income diversity when compared to similar neighborhoods elsewhere in the city. Similarly, we find no significant impact of new or expanded rail transit lines on metropolitan wide income segregation

Identifying dimensions of exclusion from a BRT system in a developing country: a content analysis approach

To date, transport exclusion has largely been approached from an accessibility perspective, developing place- and individual-based measures. However, these measures present a weakness in that they typically capture aggregate patterns. To address this disadvantage, in this paper, social-based measures to transport exclusion from a media perspective are explored. The objective is to analyze the content of a transport-related blog initiated by a local newspaper in the city of Cali, Colombia to determine if any potential indicators of social exclusion can be gleaned from this source. A two-step content analysis is performed on the entries to determine if indicators are present that may be a current source of exclusion, or that may potentially cause individuals to exclude themselves from the system. Findings reveal that bloggers made reference to geographic, time, and fear-based exclusionary dimensions, as well as personal and societal. Such a forum thus holds the potential to inform policy makers of enhancements that can be made to the system that help make it more socially inclusive. The study is unique in its developing country setting where public participation in transport planning is rare

Densification without Growth Management? Evidence from Local Land Development and Housing Trends in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

In urban America, land development and residential real estate have passed through a number of different phases during the post-WWII era. In contemporary discourse on urban sustainability, attention is often expressed in terms of intensity of land development, lot sizes, and square-footage of housing units. In this paper, we reconstruct the land development trajectory of a rapidly growing southern city in the United States and assess whether this trajectory has experienced any reversal in the face of socio-economic transformations that have occurred over the past decade or so. Starting with current land and real estate property records, we reconstitute the urban map of Charlotte using World War II as a starting point. Results highlight a decline in the average single family lot size over the past decade, while the average home size has consistently grown, suggesting that the city of Charlotte and its county have witnessed a densification trend along a path towards greater land development. This analysis both helps situate Charlotte with respect to other U.S. urban regions, and provides support for potential land-use policies, especially densification, when a balance between urban development, environment preservation, energy savings, and the achievement of quality of life for current and future generations are concerned

Should I stay or should I go? A survey analysis of neighborhood change and residential mobility concerns around new light rail stations in Charlotte, NC

In this article, we examine the effects of rail transit investments on residents\u27 stated mobility intentions and perceptions of neighborhood changes using a survey analysis in Charlotte, North Carolina. We ask residents in neighborhoods along a new light rail line about their reasons for residing in their current neighborhood, thoughts about moving and the light rail\u27s effect on their neighborhood. To control for city-wide housing market pressures, responses from one station-adjacent neighborhood are compared to responses from residents in a similar neighborhood elsewhere in the city while controlling for individual characteristics. Using a mixed-methods research approach, we find that while residents attribute some changes in their property values and rents to the light rail, it is only one of many factors affecting their neighborhood. Light rail also does not appear to affect residents\u27 stated propensity to move out of these neighborhoods. Survey respondents\u27 view of the light rail\u27s effect on their neighborhood is also positive, on average. We find that the stated likelihood of moving is not related to the distance to the station nor to how frequently a resident uses the light rail. This article contributes to debates on transit-induced displacement and gentrification and provides context to neighborhood-scale quantitative analyses from residents\u27 perspective