ANALYZING FOOD DESERT TRENDS IN FORT WALTON BEACH, FL By: Sarah Ford Albano
Transcript
1. ANALYZING FOOD DESERT TRENDS INFORT WALTON BEACH, FLBy:
Sarah Ford Albano
2. FOOD DESERTS No car, no supermarketstore within a mile(USDA)
Other types of foodstores, like conveniencestores, often serve as
apoor substitute (Adams,Coleman and Ulrich2010, 58) Often occur in
rural areaswhere little developmenttakes place, and urbancenters
that have beenleft behind by suburbansprawl (Mead 2008, 335)
3. STUDY AREA Fort Walton Beach located in Southern Okaloosa
County-fairlydense compared to other cities in the county Economy
dependent on military base to the North, andtourism (Destin) to the
EastLeadingIndustriesConstruction FoodPercentage 15% 15% 14%
8%Population Avg.HouseholdSizeServicesNumber ofDisabledRetail
Professional/MedianHouseholdIncomePercentage
BelowPovertyLineTechnical/ScientificMinorityPopulation62,602 2.35
19,350 42,347 10% 21%
4. METHODS Near tool in ArcGIS used with census tractcentroids
as input layer- grocery stores within amile were used in search
radius Leaflet plug-ins: created a circle and polygon tohighlight
important areas relating to the study, pop-upto identify city, and
a geocoder to find addressesthat can help user gain more insight
into the overallstudy (it is harder to make connections
withcoordinates)
6. DISCUSSION Food Deserts influenced byproximity to main roads
andAir Force Base Interior food desertsespecially vulnerable,
aspoverty rates are muchhigher within these censustracts (29%
living belowpoverty line in interior tract incomparison to 1%
livingbelow poverty inNortheastern tract) Open Source web
mappingcan be a conduit toexchanging informationnationally and
helping identifytrends
7. CONCLUSION Mapping is a great way toanalyze statistics
associatedwith food deserts, as specificareas within food deserts
canbe more vulnerable thanothers Fort Walton Beach does havea high
percentage of fooddeserts, although the AirForce Base provides
groceryshopping for a highpercentage of residents Community
involvement, likecommunity gardening, orvolunteer-driven
programscan help to assist thosepopulations that areespecially
vulnerable
8. REFERENCES Adams, Coleman and Ulrich. 2010. Food
Deserts.Journal of Applied Sciences 4, no. 2 (September): 58-62.
http://jstor.org/stable/23548938 American Nutrition Association.
USD A Defines
FoodDeserts.americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/usda-defines-food-deserts
Mead, Nathaniel M. 2008. Urban Issues: The Sprawl ofFood Deserts.
Environmental Health Perspectives 116,no. 8 (August): 335.
http://jstor.org/stable/25071122 Shaw, Hillary J. 2006. Food
Deserts: Toward theDevelopment of a Classification. Human Geography
88,no. 2: 231-247. http://jstor.org.stable/3878390