The USDA's new Food Access Research Atlas provides a handy guide for assisting policymakers and planners in finding the urban and rural areas with the most formidable obstacles to accessing fresh healthy food, reports Nancy Shute.
"The atlas, which is a big upgrade from the USDA's 2-year-old Food Desert Locator, is intended as a tool for state policymakers, local planners and nonprofit groups concerned about food access," says Shute.
"'People can get a more detailed picture of exactly what challenges they encounter in getting to the grocery store,' says Paula Dutko, an economist for the USDA Economic Research Service who helped craft the atlas."
"Food deserts have been a hot target of healthy-eating efforts, including Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign," adds Shute. "But as programs zero in on improving access, they're finding that bringing in farmers markets and grocery stores doesn't necessarily mean that people start eating better."
"So as our colleague Dan Charles has reported, efforts are now also working on lowering costs, consumer education and marketing."
Read the full story: How To Find A Food Desert Near You
Food Deserts Exaggerated
The "food deserts" problem is receiving heightened attention following the release of the USDA's locator map. But this analysis relies on the suspect premise that suburban supermarkets are superior to small, walkable urban foodsellers.
Making economic sense of city-owned grocery stores
Several cities are moving to create municipal stores, but do they actually save low-income households money?
Albuquerque’s Microtransit: A Planner’s Answer to Food Access Gaps
New microtransit vans in Albuquerque aim to close food access gaps by linking low-income areas to grocery stores, cutting travel times by 30 percent and offering planners a scalable model for equity-focused transit.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
‘Going backwards:’ Baltimore mayor, students rally against state's transit funding plan
Maryland's proposed six-year plan provides no funding for Baltimore’s BMORE bus program and reduces its road maintenance funding.
Detroit to transform waterfront with $2.2 billion investment
Developers will convert about 18 acres of unused parking lot space into civic spaces.
Data center developers are using lawsuits, cash offers to ‘overwhelm’ rural America
Newsrooms in five states worked together to uncover the tactics big tech developers use to buy land from reluctant communities.
U.S.-Iran war may have ‘devastating’ impact on cost to warm homes
Vermont and Maine residents may see a 76% increase in the cost of warming their homes this winter.
Senate bill would ‘overhaul’ environmental permitting laws
Under the proposed act, government agencies would also not be able to suspend or rescind permits after granting them.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
One Hundred Miles
County of Mendocino
planning NEXT
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority