Structural Drivers of Neighborhood Food Access: Implications for Policy Change

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Urban Planning
• Sociology

Background:

• Neighborhood characteristics significantly influence residents' access to healthy food options.
• Historic redlining and systemic disadvantages create complex pathways affecting community resources.
• Understanding these structural drivers is crucial for developing equitable food access interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the structural drivers of neighborhood food access at the census tract level.
• To identify pathways through which neighborhood factors influence food accessibility.
• To analyze the relationship between historic redlining and current food access.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 9597 census tracts across 38 states.
• Employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to test pathways including built environment, criminal justice, education, housing, social cohesion, transportation, wealth, and income/poverty.
• Defined historic residential redlining using Home Owners' Loan Corporation maps and food access using the modified retail food environment index.

Main Results:

• Historic residential redlining was directly associated with higher disadvantage across all tested pathways.
• Higher disadvantage in social cohesion (-0.18), criminal justice (-0.11), built environment (-0.06), and housing (-0.04) was linked to lower food access.
• Higher disadvantage in education (0.07) was associated with higher food access; transportation, wealth, and income were not significant.

Conclusions:

• Social cohesion, criminal justice, and education emerged as the strongest neighborhood-level drivers influencing food access.
• A holistic approach to neighborhood environmental policies is necessary to enhance access to healthy food options.
• Interventions should consider the interconnectedness of social, economic, and built environment factors.