Daniel Block

A comparison of the availability and affordability of a market basket in two communities in the Chicago area

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to characterise the food landscape of an inner city African American neighbourhood and its mixed-race suburban neighbour. Detailed analysis focuses on the relationship between community store mix and price, availability and produce quality. DESIGN A market basket study was completed by members of the Chicago Food Systems Collaborative. The US Department of Agricultures standard market basket survey and methodology were used. Additional items and analyses were added in consultation with community members. SETTING Austin is a lower-middle-class African American community of 117,500 on the western edge of Chicago. Oak Park, which borders Austin, is an upper-middle-income suburb of 52,500 with a mixed racial profile. SUBJECTS A market basket survey of every retail food store in Austin and Oak Park was completed. A total of 134 were included. RESULTS Results indicate that Austin has many grocery stores and few supermarkets. Many Austin groceries stores carry produce that is usually competitively priced, but often of unacceptable quality. Supermarkets had the best selection. Prices were lowest at discount supermarkets. Prices of packaged items were higher at independent stores than at chain supermarkets, but fresh items were cheaper. CONCLUSIONS Food access is related more to store type than number. In this study, item availability and produce quality varied greatly between store types. Price differences were complicated and varied by store type and food category. This has consequences in terms of food purchasing decisions and dietary quality that public health professionals should acknowledge.

Exploring youth socio-spatial perceptions of higher education landscapes through sketch maps

Previous research on broadening participation in higher education and Science Technology Engineering and Math has inadequately examined the role of place. This article explores the socio-spatial perceptions of youth of a college campus and changes in perceptions youth experience during their transition from being a university neighbor to becoming part of a university community. This study uses sketch maps and qualitative Geographic Information Systems to document the changing perceptions of 43 youth aged 14–18 during their participation in a university program. The results suggest that some students started to identify with campus spaces as a university student or employee rather than as a neighbor of the university.

Sustainability and scale: US milk-market orders as relocalization policy

There has been a recent wave of political and theoretical interest in localism and relocalization as a political strategy in resistance to the hegemonic power of globalization. Some geographers and other observers of spatial politics have been skeptical of these efforts, questioning the effectiveness and the effects of relocalization movements. In response, DuPuis and Goodman have argued for a ‘reflexive localism’ that takes a more pragmatic approach, understanding the ways in which this form of politics can or cannot provide a powerful alternative to globalization. Building on current realist studies, this analysis seeks to build a more reflexive framework with which to understand the politics of localism. To do this the study draws upon the perspectives of political ecology and the politics of scale and uses a comparative historical methodology to look at one of the most effective forms of localized governance in US agriculture: the milk-market-order system. The analysis shows that market orders created economic enclaves that enabled particular agroecological practices, or ‘farming styles’. Market orders functioned as mesolevel institutions that both territorially fixed local agroecologies and mediated with institutions at other spatial scales, a process in which ‘local’, ‘state’, and ‘national’ were coproduced.

What fills the gaps in food deserts? Mapping independent groceries, food stamp card utilization and chain fast-food restaurants in the Chicago area

Recent research has identified the existence of “food deserts” in many urban (and rural) areas, characterized by a lack of access to chain supermarkets. With few exceptions, these studies have focused on chains rather than independent supermarkets. The Northeastern Illinois Community Food Security Assessment is a GIS and survey based study of food access in the six-county Chicago metropolitan area. Preliminary results indicate that poor and minority areas are less likely to have full-line chain supermarkets, but it does not necessarily follow that all of these communities have poor food access since many Hispanic and other ethnic communities have many stores that cater to their cuisines. More interestingly, food stamp card allocation and redemption data indicate that most poor African–American areas have much higher levels of allocation than redemption. Surrounding areas have higher redemption than allocation levels, indicating that residents are spending their food stamp money at stores in these surrounding neighborhoods. This food stamp usage data set is compared to the mix of stores in the particular neighborhoods in question. Further analysis looks at the pattern of chain fast-food restaurants in the Chicago area. While national chains are not absent from most ‘food deserts,’ as with supermarkets, many of these areas are served more by local chains and independents.

Saving Milk Through Masculinity: Public Health Officers and Pure Milk, 1880–1930

Abstract In the early twentieth and late nineteenth centuries, milk was considered both the perfect food and a vector for many diseases. Given this dichotomy, the protection of the milk supply became one of the most important jobs of urban public health officers. In taking on this task, male public health officers took control of a substance that, because of its association with women and child-rearing, was considered feminine. This paper follows the promotion and protection of milk by public health departments and officials during the period 1880–1930 and the importance of masculinity in shaping this history. Masculinity affected milk protection in two major ways. First, male public health officers partially appropriated a task formerly often performed by women. Second, in order to protect milk, it was separated from its female origins through technology and regulation.

Finding Food Deserts: A Comparison of Methods Measuring Spatial Access to Food Stores.

Public health research has increasingly focused on how access to resources affects health behaviors. Mapping environmental factors, such as distance to a supermarket, can identify intervention points toward improving food access in low-income and minority communities. However, the existing literature provides little guidance on choosing the most appropriate measures of spatial access. This study compared the results of different measures of spatial access to large food stores and the locations of high and low access identified by each. The data set included U.S. Census population data and the locations of large food stores in the six-county area around Chicago, Illinois. Six measures of spatial access were calculated at the census block group level and the results compared. The analysis found that there was little agreement in the identified locations of high or low access between measures. This study illustrates the importance of considering the access measure used when conducting research, interpreting results, or comparing studies. Future research should explore the correlation of different measures with health behaviors and health outcomes.

Purity, Economy, and Social Welfare in the Progressive Era Pure Milk Movement

The early twentieth century, or “The Progressive Era” was characterized by intense concern with food safety. Like today, this did not mean that food safety advocates formed a united front. This study examines conflicts within the Progressive Era pure milk movement between goals of purity, economy, and social welfare. In particular, two situations are examined: the conflict between advocates of pasteurization and certification; and conflicts within the Chicago Milk Commission, which provided pasteurized milk to children and, later, inspected certified milk producers. Pasteurization became much more popular than certification due to its economic superiority. The Chicago Milk Commission was torn apart by factions emphasizing competing goals. It is concluded that while groups representing the goals of purity, economy, and social welfare did not often agree, milk policy since this time has reflected all three of these goals. The conflicts between these groups parallel general issues within Progressive era society.

Protecting and Connecting: Separation, Connection, and the U.S. Dairy Economy 1840–2002

Over the last century and a half, urban consumers of fluid milk in the U.S. have often mistrusted the sources of their milk. This paper traces the history of these feelings of risk and the reactions to them, using milk as an entry point into the food safety discussions of the times. There are two conflicting manners in which risk was addressed. In the first, milk production is increasingly separated from the consumer, both geographically and emotionally, through health regulations, increasingly complex production, transportation, and sanitary technology, and industry consolidation. In the second, feelings of mistrust and risk are responded to through policies and marketing strategies that attempt to forge feelings of connection between consumers and particular producers and lessen the emotional distance between city and country. While these two techniques often seemed contradictory, many movements within the dairy industry attempted to balance the two.

Community Geography: Addressing Barriers in Public Participation GIS

Early advocates of Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) envisioned a future in which members of the public (broadly) and members of marginalized communities (specifically) would utilize geographic information and spatial technologies to affect positive change within their communities. Yet in spite of the emergence and success of PPGIS, open source geospatial tools, and the geoweb, access barriers recognized by proponents of PPGIS in the mid-1990s persist. As a result, PPGIS facilitators continue to be instrumental in addressing access barriers to geospatial technologies among resource poor organizations and marginalized groups. ‘Community geography’, is a growing area of academic geography that leverages university community partnerships to facilitate access to spatial technology, data, and analysis. Experiences from community geography programmes at three universities (Chicago State University, Syracuse University, and Columbus State University) demonstrate the benefits and challenges of a facilitated model of PPGIS.

Measuring Community and University Impacts of Critical Civic Geography: Insights from Chicago

Geographers have increasingly adopted community-based learning and research into their teaching and scholarly activities since Bunge and Harvey called for an applied public geography that is both useful and challenges societal inequalities. With few exceptions, however, there has been little discussion of methods for measuring this work. Many published assessments focus on the impacts of projects on students but overlook the impacts on community partners. Impacts on faculty and the larger university community are also often ignored. This article discusses literature on the evaluation of community–university research and service learning from a critical perspective. A discussion of service learning and community-based research (CBR) projects at two Chicago universities, DePaul and Chicago State, is presented. In both cases challenges were encountered to achieve full evaluation of projects, yet both included an evaluation of university and community partners that allowed for assessment of the projects’ value to all partners.