Neil Bania

Comparative Approaches to Measuring Food Access in Urban Areas: The Case of Portland, Oregon

GIS methods are used to construct measures of food access for neighbourhoods in the Portland, Oregon, US metropolitan area and the sensitivity of such measures to methodological variation is examined. The level of aggregation of data inputs is varied and the effect of using both Euclidean and street network distances is tested. It is found that, regardless of the level of geographical disaggregation, distance-based measures generate approximately the same conclusions about the distribution of food access in the area. It is also found that, while the relationship between street network and Euclidean distances varies with population density, measures computed with either construct generate the same relative patterns of food access. These findings suggest that results from food access studies employing disparate methodologies can often be compared.

Congruence and Coverage: Alternative Approaches to Identifying Urban Food Deserts and Food Hinterlands

Recent literature identifies disadvantaged neighborhoods lacking access to healthy food as “food deserts” where limited food choices may affect health and socioeconomic outcomes. Researchers have applied varying definitions of food deserts, however, making generalizations problematic. We use GIS methods to examine the congruence and coverage of different definitions for Portland, Oregon. Each identifies somewhat different neighborhoods as food deserts, with none accounting for the majority of socioeconomically vulnerable populations living with low food access. To supplement, we introduce the concept of the food hinterland—home to a significant share of the vulnerable population living with low food access.

Job Access, Employment and Earnings: Outcomes for Welfare Leavers in a US Urban Labour Market

This article examines the effect of job access on employment outcomes for welfare recipients in Cleveland, Ohio, leaving assistance during 1998—2000. A rich longitudinal dataset is employed, combining administrative and survey data with multiple measures of access to and competition for jobs. The focus is on both a population and a range of measures of employment outcomes not previously studied in this context. Empirical ambiguity in the existing literature has resulted from the difficulty of modelling causality when employment and residential location are jointly determined. In this study, labour market outcomes are related to the residential locations of welfare leavers prior to employment, thus overcoming much potential endogeneity. Virtually no evidence is found that job access influences labour market outcomes for this population.