COVID-19 exacerbates unequal food access

New publication: Kar, A., Motoyama, Y., Carrel, A., Miller, H.J. and Le, H.T.K. (2021) “COVID-19 exacerbates unequal food access,” Applied Geography, 134, 102517.

Abstract. Inequality to food access has always been a serious problem, yet it became even more critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated social inequality and reshaped essential travel. This study provides a holistic view of spatio-temporal changes in food access based on observed travel data for all grocery shopping trips in Columbus, Ohio, during and after the state-wide stay-at-home period. We estimated the decline and recovery patterns of store visits during the pandemic to identify the key socio-economic and built environment determinants of food shopping patterns. The results show a disparity: during the lockdown, store visits to dollar stores declined the least, while visits to big-box stores declined the most and recovered the fastest. Visits to stores in low-income areas experienced smaller changes even during the lockdown period. A higher percentage of low-income customers was associated with lower store visits during the lockdown period. Furthermore, stores with a higher percentage of white customers declined the least and recovered faster during the reopening phase. Our study improves the understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on food access disparities and business performance. It highlights the role of COVID-19 and similar disruptions on exposing underlying social problems in the US.

Media

The Future of Transportation in Ohio – All Sides with Ann Fisher (WOSU)

I was a guest on the WOSU show All Sides with Ann Fisher to discuss passenger rail and the future of transportation in Ohio.  Other guests include: Thea Ewing (Director of Transportation and Infrastructure Development, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission) and Marc Magliari (Amtrak spokesperson).

Good conversation!  Recording is posted at the episode webpage:

Urban Sustainability Observatories: Leveraging Urban Experimentation for Sustainability Science and Policy

Cities are complex systems, and sustainability is a wicked problem. How should we approach sustainable urban systems science and policy? In this paper published in Harvard Data Science Review, we discuss the concept of data-enabled urban sustainability observatories that leverage real-world experimentation for deeper understanding and better policies.

Miller, H.J., Clifton, K., Akar, G., Tufte, K. Gopalakrishnan, S., MacArthur, J., Irwin, E., Ramnath, R., Stiles, J. (2021) “Urban sustainability observatories: Leveraging urban experimentation for sustainability science and policy,” Harvard Data Science Review, 3.2, DOI: 10.1162/99608f92.2025202b

Abstract

Humanity is experiencing revolutionary changes in the 21st century, including accelerating urbanization, the introduction of disruptive mobility technology services, and new sources of data generated and consumed by urban and mobility processes. However, the environmental, social, and economic sustainability implications of these new mobility services are unclear given the complex nature of urban systems and the multifaceted, contested nature of sustainability goals. In this article, we discuss the concept of urban sustainability observatories that leverage urban experimentation through ongoing data collection and analysis capabilities. The goal is to generate new scientific insights and design effective policies to meet sustainability goals for cities. We outline their functional requirements and related research challenges. We also discuss challenges in building and sustaining these observatories and how university, community, and industry partnerships may establish successful observatories that serve as critical drivers of research, technology transfer, and commercialization.

Keywords: data observatory, sustainability, urban experimentation, geospatial data, mobility data