Connecting People to Food: A Network Approach to Alleviating Food Deserts

In 2020, 13.8 million people in the United States struggled with food security. This means they were uncertain whether their food needs would be met. Where someone lives can influence struggles with food security. Food deserts are census tracts that experience high rates of poverty (20 percent of residents at/below poverty thresholds) and low access to grocery stores with nutritious foods. Food deserts and insecurity disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities and may contribute to health issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. Public policies can be utilized to lessen the impact of food deserts and one way this can be achieved is through public transit.

We characterized the role public transportation plays in connecting food desert residents with food by formulating network models from data on food deserts, grocery stores, and public transportation systems for five representative locations: Brown Deer, WI; Lawrence, KS; Albuquerque, NM; Charlotte, NC, and Raleigh, NC. We analyzed these networks by looking at centrality measures, specifically degree and closeness. These centrality measures provide insight on the situation regarding grocery store access for food deserts.

Results of the degree centrality measure varied across study sites; one site (Lawrence) had at least 1 bus stop within 0.25 miles (0.40 kilometers) of the representative address for each food desert. Conversely, two sites (Charlotte and Raleigh) each had 2 representative addresses with 0 bus stops within 0.75 miles (1.21 kilometers). When using the closeness centrality measure, 2 food deserts in Albuquerque had the highest number of grocery stores within 30 min (22 and 9) while 44% of food deserts in Raleigh had 0 grocery stores within 30 minutes.

Using these results, we identify how public transportation could better connect people with food and offer suggestions to city leaders as a way to help eradicate food deserts.