The Persistence of Segregation in Buffalo,New York: Comer VS. Cisneros and Geographies of Relocation Decisions Among Low-Income Black Households

Debates about the causes of segregation continue to consider the role that own-race preferences have in understanding the persistence of racial residential segregation in American cities. In this paper, I offer an alternative to the own-race preference model. I argue that segregation of low-income Black households from Whites persists in Buffalo, New York, because the spatial rootedness of Blacks' survival strategies leads households to choose housing in the central city, where their social networks and most Black households live. I illustrate this argument by exploring the multiple reasons for why a group of African American households, who were prompted to move through the settlement of a high-profile housing discrimination lawsuit, chose to relocate to neighborhoods in the central city in Buffalo. I adopt a context-sensitive perspective in making the argument and further argue that such approaches are ultimately useful in capturing the complex reasons that underlie the persistence of segregation.     

Urban migrant women’s everyday food insecurity coping strategies foster alternative urban imaginaries of a more democratic food system

Urban migrant women worldwide utilize a creative combination of food insecurity coping strategies to procure food for themselves and their families. Using in-depth interviews with 72 migrant women in Medellín, Colombia, and Washington, DC, this paper argues that in low-income urban communities these everyday strategies can further their demands for autonomy in determining what foods they produce and consume. Relying on feminist geography and food sovereignty literature, this research explores how migrant women living in poverty rely on informal networks for growing and sharing food, seek out organic, fresh foods, and utilize independent survival strategies to counter exclusionary rhetoric and a food system they view as unhealthy. In doing so, they devise alternative urban imaginaries of a more democratic food system. This research contributes a more nuanced understanding of the food insecurity experiences of urban migrant women.     

Kut (informal rotating credit) in the livelihood strategies of urban households in Penang, Malaysia

The importance of social capital in both rural and urban communities is an often-published topic. By representing the operation of social capital networks, this paper explores the persistence of informal rotating credit in the livelihoods of low-income, urban households in Penang, Malaysia. It highlights the function of such credit and the ways in which it benefits poor women and their households. This paper suggests that informal credit reduces the probability of being poor, and the returns to household investment in social capital are higher for the poor than for the population at large. The downside of such social capital is also discussed. The paper concludes that informal credit is enhanced in the urban settings due to the increase in income opportunities, especially for women.     

Exploring food choices within the context of nutritional security in Gaborone,Botswana

Food consumption experiences remain largely unexplored in urban Africa, despite mounting concerns regarding both over‐ and undernutrition of city dwellers and the potential impact on overall human health and development. This paper seeks to explore the foodstuffs people consume and the factors that shape consumer choice in Gaborone, Botswana. Empirical data were drawn from food diaries and observations of 40 households and discussions with them, plus key informants interviews in Gaborone. Analysis reveals the range of foodstuff people consume, highlighting the prevalence of diets comprised of energy dense, processed and animal‐sourced foods, which are major nutritional security concerns. However these diets were not summarily western or westernizing as per the nutritional transition thesis, as our analysis suggests subtleties of dietary patterns, including the fact that meat‐based diets are traditionally rooted rather than imported and meals tend to comprise both local and western components. The paper also identifies multiple interacting factors influencing consumer food choices, illustrating how food decisions embody context‐specific personal and social circumstances. Understanding how these factors shape what people eat in Gaborone may enable policy makers to facilitate the conditions within which healthy food choices can be made and to address emerging public health and nutrition challenges in African cities.     

Using simulated data to investigate the spatial patterns of obesity prevalence at the census tract level in metropolitan Detroit

Obesity is a serious public health problem in the United States. It is important to estimate obesity prevalence at the local level to target programmatic and policy interventions. It is challenging, however, to obtain local estimates of obesity prevalence because national health surveys such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) are not designed to produce direct estimates at the local levels (e.g. census tracts) due to small population samples and the need to preserve individual confidentiality. In this study we address the problem of estimating local obesity prevalence rates by implementing a spatial microsimulation modeling technique to proportionally replicate the demographic characteristics of BRFSS respondents to census tract populations in metropolitan Detroit. Obesity prevalence rates are examined for high and low spatial clusters and studied in relation to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) measures of low-income neighborhoods and local food deserts and CDC's measure of healthy and less healthy food environments currently used to target obesity reduction initiatives. This study found that obesity prevalence was largely clustered in the City of Detroit extending north into contiguous suburbs. The spatial patterns of highest obesity prevalence tracts were most similarly aligned with USDA-defined low-income tracts and CDC's less healthy food tracts. The locations of USDA's food desert tracts rarely overlapped with the highest obesity prevalence tracts. This study demonstrated a new methodology by which to assess local areas in need of future obesity interventions.     

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF PRIMARY INDIVIDUALS

Primary individuals and the households that they head now compose a significant proportion of US households. This paper examines the regional and intraurban distribution of primary households. Macro-scale data from the 1960 and 1970 Censuses are used to examine the evolving regional patterns of primary individuals and households. Using intraurban data for the 1970's, the paper also examines the impact of recent rapid growth in the number of primary individuals on the spatial distribution of primary households within urban areas. Inferences are drawn with respect to the macro- and micro-scale distributions of primary individuals and households and the impact of continued growth of this subpopulation on urban form and population distribution.     

Gentrification and the suburbanization of poverty: changing urban geographies through boom and bust periods

Many postindustrial cities across Europe and other contexts are marked by growing social–spatial inequalities, housing liberalization, and gentrification, which limit the housing options of low-income households. We investigated changes in the residential moves of different low-income households (working poor, low-to-middle income, and unemployed) in the Amsterdam and Rotterdam urban regions for the time period 2004–2013. We found an overarching trend for the suburbanization of poverty toward the urban peripheries and surrounding regions. While this trend appears to be relatively crisis resistant in the tight Amsterdam housing context, it is more cyclical in Rotterdam and has slowed following the global financial crisis. Low-to-middle income and unemployed households are increasingly moving to the urban regions surrounding cities, particularly to higher density satellite towns. Nevertheless, a growing number of working poor households remain highly urbanized, employing various coping strategies to acquire housing. This paper reveals how the suburbanization of poverty is both a direct process of poor households moving from city to suburb, and a broader indirect process caused by exclusionary mechanisms such as the decreasing accessibility and affordability of inner-urban neighborhoods, which reflect broader changes in the geography and socioeconomic patterning of urban regions.     

HEALTH AND THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

From an almost infinite variety of available materials, each culture selects those that it accepts as food. Most diets are based on a carbohydrate-rich staple, supplemented by other foods. Animal sources of protein are the most desired but the most expensive to produce and acquire; thus, they command high prestige. With increasing prosperity, diets contain more animal foods and fewer staples (Bennett's law), even as the proportion of income used to purchase food declines (Engel's law). Because of higher incomes in cities, urban residents of developing countries spend a smaller percentage of their income on food than do rural residents, and they eat a higher-quality diet. However, Basta found that recent migrants from the countryside in many developing nations do not enjoy improved diets. This paper reports on research, based on published government statistics, that finds that in China, the poorest segment of the urban population (1) spends a higher percentage of its income on food than do rural people but (2) enjoys a higher-quality diet. [Key words: diet, China, nutrition.]     

MIGRAT: A COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM FOR THE SIMULATION OF MIGRATION

Primary individuals and the households that they head now compose a significant proportion of US households. This paper examines the regional and intraurban distribution of primary households. Macro-scale data from the 1960 and 1970 Censuses are used to examine the evolving regional patterns of primary individuals and households. Using intraurban data for the 1970's, the paper also examines the impact of recent rapid growth in the number of primary individuals on the spatial distribution of primary households within urban areas. Inferences are drawn with respect to the macro- and micro-scale distributions of primary individuals and households and the impact of continued growth of this subpopulation on urban form and population distribution.     

Port Cities as Areas of Transition: Ethnographic Perspectives. Waltraud Kokot,Mijal Gandelsman-Trier,Kathrin Wildner,and Astrid Wonneberger,editors

Research on the impact of the built environment on obesity and access to healthful foods often fails to incorporate information about how individuals interact with their environment. A sample of 198 low-income WIC recipients from two urban neighborhoods were interviewed about where they do their food shopping and surveys were conducted of food stores in their neighborhoods to assess the availability of healthful foods. Results indicate that participants rarely shop at the closest supermarket, traveling on average 1.58 miles for non-WIC food shopping and 1.07 miles for WIC shopping. Findings suggest that access to healthful foods is not synonymous with geographic proximity.     

北京城市中低收入者日常活动时空间特征分析

转型期城市空间制度性及结构性变化以及住房、交通等公共服务设施的配置,往往因忽略城市中低收入群体日常活动的时空需求而使其陷入可达性及移动性困境,从而导致城市社会不公平问题。个体日常活动行为的时空特征反映了其对城市空间利用的时空需求,是测度可达性与移动性的基本指标,也是衡量社会排斥、社会剥夺、居住隔离的新维度。采用2007年北京城市居民活动日志调查数据,基于时间地理学对微观个体日常活动的分析框架,借助GIS三维可视化技术,从生活时间分配、工作与非工作活动的时空间分布格局、活动空间测度、移动性等方面,对北京城市中低收入者日常活动的时空间特征进行系统分析。通过城市中低收入者日常活动的时空需求研究,为城市空间优化和时间管理提供参考依据。     

Suburban Food Security: Walkability and Nutritional Access in Metropolitan Detroit

This article explored the relationship between the local food environment and walkability in the socioeconomically diverse, inner-ring suburbs of metropolitan Detroit. The availability and cost differentials of food were surveyed using a modified version of the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey for Stores (NEMS–S), and a geographic information system–based method was designed to map walkability relative to licensed food retail establishments. Results showed that minority communities lack access to fresh produce and nutritionally adequate foods, which is compounded by limited mobility. By incorporating local-based economic incentives, low-income communities can better align neighborhood goals of obtaining nutritionally adequate food (and other services) with economic opportunity.     

转型期城市低收入邻里的类型、特征和产生机制:以南京市为例

本文以南京市为例,检查转型期城市贫困人口的空间分布特征,并着重分析贫困人口集中的低收入邻里的类型、特征及其产生机制。研究表明,转型期我国城市贫困人口的空间分布表现为在邻里或社区层面上的集中。城市贫困人口在邻里层次上的集聚,导致三种类型低收入邻里的产生,包括老城衰退邻里、退化的工人新村和农民工集聚区(城中村)。分析表明,这些低收入邻里的产生源于国家导向的城市发展政策和国家福利住房供应制度,并在住房市场化和房地产导向的城市发展过程中得以强化。基于南京市的实证分析和实地调查,城市贫困人口的空间分布状况和低收入邻里的特征被检查,低收入邻里的产生机制得以验证。     

Four decades of urban sprawl and population growth in Teresina,Brazil

The expansion of medium-sized cities in Brazil has increased significantly since the 80–90's decades. In that period, most of the urbanization process was represented by the agglomeration of the population in the major metropolitan areas such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Nowadays, the rural-urban movement in Brazil is predominantly affecting cities with less than 1 million inhabitants, located particularly in the Center-West and in the Semiarid Northeast regions. The city of Teresina, the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Piauí, is one example that has shown an accelerated process of urban development. In this context, this paper seeks to discuss the urban sprawl of Teresina over the last four decades (1974–2014), associating its trends of urban expansion and population growth with their social and environmental implications. The results of our work indicate that urban sprawl in Teresina has been continuous over the years and getting faster in the 2010–2014 period. High demographic density areas are located mostly in peripheral zones, where the low-income population dominates. The population density varies across the city, and it is far from the standard proposed by the urban legislation. Thus, urbanization in Teresina is characterized by the sprawl of its municipal boundaries, intra-urban densification and verticalization, and an increase in population, especially in areas of low-income neighborhoods.     

A spatial analytic approach for classifying greenspace and comparing greenspace social equity

Urban planners frequently adhere to ‘park minimum standards’ to ensure that public health and environmental benefits associated with greenspace are socially equitable. These standards denote the extent and placement of greenspaces, but rarely consider their form and function. Arguably, an inclusive evaluation of greenspace social equity requires the comparison of greenspace types. To address if greenspace types are socially equitable, I develop a novel spatial analytic approach that classifies 4265 greenspaces according to twelve functional, physical characteristics. I then compare the social equity of these greenspace types using multiple operationalizations of social equity (provision, accessibility, and population pressure) throughout 4524 neighborhoods in a capital city in Australia. I find that greenspace social equity varies for each of these types. For example, results reveal that affluent households have an abundance of amenity rich greenspaces and few amenity poor ones. Further, by comparing across multiple social equity operationalizations, I find that affluent households may have a deficit of the amenity poor greenspace type, but live closer to this type. These findings confirm that employing a greenspace typology and multiple social equity operationalizations can deepen our understanding of the association between social equity and greenspace provision. This spatial analytic approach is both adaptable for examining other urban land use types, and portable to other urban contexts, and can aid urban planners, researchers, and policy makers to understand how to improve the social equity of publicly beneficial greenspace types.     

An obsolete dichotomy? Rethinking the rural–urban interface in terms of food security and production in the global south

The global food system is coming under increasing strain in the face of urban population growth. The recent spike in global food prices (2007–08) provoked consumer protests, and raised questions about food sovereignty and how and where food will be produced. Concurrently, for the first time in history the majority of the global population is urban, with the bulk of urban growth occurring in smaller-tiered cities and urban peripheries, or ‘peri-urban’ areas of the developing world. This paper discusses the new emerging spaces that incorporate a mosaic of urban and rural worlds, and reviews the implications of these spaces for livelihoods and food security. We propose a modified livelihoods framework to evaluate the contexts in which food production persists within broader processes of landscape and livelihood transformation in peri-urban locations. Where and how food production persists are central questions for the future of food security in an urbanising world. Our proposed framework provides directions for future research and highlights the role of policy and planning in reconciling food production with urban growth.     

Strengthening the core,improving access: Bringing healthy food downtown via a farmers' market move

Diet-related diseases are a major public health concern, and food environment research explores how built environmental interventions can address nutritional inequalities. Yet other, more direct intervention approaches may also yield positive benefits for residents living in food deserts. This paper presents a case study of a farmers' market move and its effects on healthy food accessibility and customer characteristics in a community with many food deserts. 844 surveys collected in 2011 and 2015 determine customer purchasing patterns and demographics at the Flint (Michigan) Farmers' Market. The market move has meant improved healthy food accessibility for mobility-constrained and low-income residents throughout the region. Counter to past research suggesting that farmers' markets tend to serve higher income groups, socioeconomically disadvantaged people constitute a major consumer demographic at Flint's market. The results of this research have broad utility for communities seeking to ameliorate the challenges of bringing healthy food to isolated food deserts by demonstrating that positioning healthy food in a prominent, central location will attract residents from such neighborhoods while engaging a broad clientele.     

The Mobile Street Food Service Practice in the Urban Economy of Kumba, Cameroon

The mobile food service practice is one of multiple survival strategies adopted by poor urban households in Cameroon to maintain and expand the base of subsistence incomes, especially in the current surge of economic crisis. Though a fast-growing informal sector enterprise, it is still at an artisanal stage in urban Cameroon, creating an urgent need for a supportive policy environment that could have measurable positive impacts on improving the productivity, welfare and income levels of the micro-entrepreneurs. This study looks at the mobile food service practice in Kumba, Cameroon, in terms of its basic characteristics, the locational factors influencing its socio-spatial distribution, the critical success factors (CSFs) determining customer choices, and its impacts on the local environmental resources and quality of urban life. The mobile food service practice creates employment, generates income, and acts as a food energy-support instrument to the urban poor and local economic activities operating in Kumba. The vendors, who are mostly women, can make incomes that are 405 per cent of the national minimum wage and, thus, contribute financially towards the education, health and survival of their families. The paper provides some recommendations on ways to improve the efficiency of this sector so as to achieve sustainable economic and social development and to enhance empowerment thereof.     

中国耕地与未来30年食物需求、保障及对策

在未来的 30年中 ,中国的人口将继续增长 ,至 2 0 30年达到峰值 1 6亿 ,净增 3亿左右。随着社会经济的发展 ,人民生活水平的提高 ,人均食物需求的量与质越来越高。届时中国食物的保障能力受到国际社会的普遍关注。中国到 2 0 30年 ,满足上述食物需求量 ,食物主要来自耕地的生产潜力和非耕地的食物替代生产两方面。在政策非常强有力、一切从保护耕地出发、严格控制耕地占用和维持动态平衡的条件下 ,到 2 0 30年 ,中国耕地面积可保持 1 31× 1 0 6 hm2。而中国到 2 0 1 0年、 2 0 30年年人均需求粮食分别为 42 0 kg和460 kg,这两个基期年分别需求粮食总量为 5 796× 1 0 8kg和 7360× 1 0 8kg。研究认为 2 0 1 0年、 2 0 30年中国耕地动态变化后食物保障能力分别在 93%和 87%。非耕地资源食物替代是补充食物生产和缓解耕地压力的重要途径。 2 0 30年其食物替代能力可达到 90 0 0 0×1 0 3t,其中草业 3380 0× 1 0 3t,木本粮油 1 70 0 0× 1 0 3t,水域 2 5 82 0× 1 0 3t,野生生物 1 340 0× 1 0 3t,非耕地的事物替代能力达到约 1 0 %。中国食物生产与发展的四个保证 ,一是有效的保护耕地政策 ,二是科学技术进步与科技投入 ,三是构建食物生产体系与保障体系 ,四是高效利用水资源的技术与措施。     

消费升级视角下城市生活服务空间的演变及影响因素研究——以武汉菜市场为例

消费升级时代孕育了生活性服务新业态,改变了生活服务业的城市空间格局。论文以菜市场作为生活服务空间的代表,选取武汉市这一中国城市消费升级样本及城市疫后复苏“风向标”作为典型案例区,结合GIS空间计量和STATA统计分析,探讨菜市场综合体系的形成过程、类型差异和影响因素。研究发现：① 武汉市菜市场经历了传统农贸市场主导—零售新业态扩张—社区尺度回落的历程,形成以大卖场生鲜部、农贸市场、生鲜超市及社区菜场为主的复合型生活服务空间,并在疫后展现出一定韧性;② 武汉市菜市场整体上由双核心向多核心转变,由城市中心向外围延伸,且呈现出农贸市场“团簇状”、生鲜超市“条型”、大卖场“点状”、社区菜场“蝶形”的分类型差异化格局;③ 全业态菜市场布局受社会、经济、区位和发展基础影响显著,传统业态受市场和区位要素影响显著,零售新业态受经济要素和前期菜市场集聚程度的影响显著,且消费升级态势下新建菜市场选址更加偏好购物中心代表的体验式消费场所。研究结果对于丰富现代菜市场体系的类型研究,拓展城市生活服务空间研究的学科视域具有一定理论意义,同时对于优化城市生活服务空间结构以满足居民日益增长的美好生活需要和服务品质追求具有一定现实价值。