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This paper aims to examine the realities of food deserts and the vulnerable populations in urban areas in the USA; review underlying causes of these realities; and propose a set of solutions to address challenges facing vulnerable populations living in urban food deserts.

The paper presents a case study with a focus on a specific vulnerable population living in a food desert in the inner city of Richmond, Virginia.

While vulnerable populations and food deserts have much in common, in general, they both reflect, for specific groups of people, a failure to achieve or even having a chance to achieve the American dream. In particular, they reflect the economic, social, culture and education disenfranchisement of many citizens in society.

This exploratory paper and case study offers a beginning reference point to both understand and deal with urban food deserts and the vulnerable populations that reside there-in. Food deserts are a serious problem that is historically based and contemporarily reinforced by economic, social and cultural/community realities in society. By first understanding these realities, the paper calls for research and action.

Previous research has extensively examined “food deserts,” where access to healthy food is limited. However, little is known of the buying behavior at the individual household level in terms of buying habits and consumption in these areas. The purpose of this paper is to determine to what extent other factors than access can account for the purchase of healthy food products, namely, fruits and vegetables.

This paper proposes to partially fill this gap through a qualitative (n=55) and quantitative (n=512) study of those people who are in charge of their household purchases in two food deserts in the city of Montreal.

Results show that geographical access to supermarkets is not the main factor fostering the purchase of healthy foods (fruits and vegetables). Indeed, food education (e.g. information, simple recipes, cooking classes), associated with a changing mediation process through product diversification (e.g. availability of local products in bulk) and supply (e.g. farmers) seems to be more significant.

Future studies could compare the results obtained through this study in different socio-demographic contexts. Longitudinal analyses could also increase the understanding of the social and commercial challenges.

In contrast to previous studies, the results show that geographical access to supermarkets is not the main factor fostering the purchase of fruits and vegetables. Indeed, food education (e.g. information, simple recipes, cooking classes), associated with a changing mediation process through product diversification (e.g. products in bulk) and supply (e.g. farmers) seem to be more significant.

Food deserts are an attractive metaphor, but because defining this phrase and actually identifying food deserts as geographic places are a contentious endeavour, it is more revealing to discuss related terms. Inherent in the debate around food deserts (i.e. how they are defined, if and where they exist) is the topic of access. The central purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that access is a more accurate and less misleading concept than food deserts when it comes to highlighting food inequalities.

Social exclusion, choice, food security, and public health are fields on which the paper draws. The proposition is that food security studies have entered a postmodern food security paradigm, which can readily be seen in US‐based community food security efforts.

Progressing beyond the initial attention‐grabbing nature of the food desert term, a conceptually thin foundation is discovered that impedes universal understanding and acknowledgment that areas of inadequate food access do exist. Food access, on the other hand, is an established phrase that has evolved and been applied in different arenas to address food security. Food access is a readily understood concept that can be tailored to specific applications; whether it is physical, economic, or informational food access.

It is proposed here that access is a more accurate and less misleading concept than food deserts when it comes to highlighting food inadequacies.

Lack of access to supermarkets and fresh produce continues to be a problem for low income consumers in many countries. The purpose of this research was to identify the shopping preferences and needs of such consumers in the Eastern U.S. Additionally, the research sought to determine the interest and preferences of low income consumers in a mobile grocery intervention which would provide neighborhoods with a consistent, convenient shopping experience.

A mixed methods approach included conducting focus groups in low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and a quantitative survey (n = 202) administered via Survey Monkey to low-income consumers. Thematic analysis was conducted on focus group data and surveys were administered and analyzed to assess applicability of themes identified to consumers over a larger geographic area.

Results indicated that consumers in food desert neighborhoods reported an interest in purchasing a wide range of food staples, household goods, and personal items from any shopping intervention. Participants indicated a need for a more convenient overall shopping experience for a range of foods and goods in addition to fresh food choices. Findings indicate that mobile interventions to increase food access may benefit from expanding products available through the intervention beyond fresh produce and perishable goods.

This research explored purchasing preferences with low income consumers living in food deserts. It identifies products and goods they would prefer to see in an intervention to increase food access and is unique in that it explores the wants and preferences of consumers living in food deserts.

The ‘consumer society’ has become a ‘consumer oligopoly’ in Britain as the big four supermarkets, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury, and Morrison have between them captured a 75% share of the grocery market. This has been achieved through globalisation, the attainment of large economies of scale, and major deployment of buying power. Total annual profits of the ‘big four’ UK supermarkets now stand at £3 billion, and several millions of this is spent on charitable causes and other CSR activities such as promoting sustainable development. However the spectacular growth of the supermarkets over the past fifty years has not been to the benefit of all. Some consumers have seen their access to healthy food curtailed as local shops have closed, and the quality of their diet has fallen; this is often referred to as the ‘food deserts’ phenomenon. The spatial scale of ‘food deserts’, the coping strategies employed by those affected by such ‘deserts’, and the solutions proposed to alleviate food access problems, are profoundly local in character, typically operating over distances of less than two kilometres. This paper suggests that a re‐focussing of the CSR activities of supermarkets towards the local scale can not only boost the social image of the supermarkets in fields where their impact is seen as negative, but can also be profitable for these corporations. Further benefits of a more local perspective include environmental advantages such as the maintenance of biodiversity and support for farmers whose incomes may be in decline. In tandem with a global commercial outlook, supermarkets have engaged with government at a national level to further their business interests. Simultaneously, governmental power within Britain has also moved from the local to the national level. In contrast, many organisations representing disadvantaged groups call for a localised, ‘bottom‐up’, approach. Britain's current centralised ‘top‐down’ approach to governance may be driven by financial pressures or ideological considerations, but this has nevertheless alienated some voters from government. This shift has prompted a certain disengagement with political processes for some individuals, and a shift towards ‘direct action’ tactics which may be damaging to commercial activities. It is argued here that a realignment of the supermarket's engagement with politics from the national to the local level is possible, financed by the resources the supermarkets currently devote to CSR activities. This re‐localisation of supermarket political activity would in fact pay dividends for the ‘big four’ retailers, because by helping to re‐build the legitimacy of national government it would create a more stable environment for business within the UK.

The purpose of this paper is to examine public market functions in three different continents (Europe, North America and Asia) and to identify a set of planning implications for their use in contexts of urban regeneration.

The paper presents a comparative analysis of four downtown market functions based on the LABiMAAM framework: [L]ocation; [A]ccessibility; [B]uilding; [i]nternal structure; [M]ain trading area; [A]menities and services; [A]nimation program; and [M]anagement structure.

The lessons learned suggest that centrally located public markets possess: social functions aimed at guaranteeing food security, urban development goals that prevent the leap-frog suburbanization of the territory, walkability goals that reduce automobile dependence and welfare goals that support disenfranchised, usually minority, populations.

Positive and dire implications are identified. The former are structured in terms of these five categories, namely, social, financial, macro-spatial, environmental and public space; while the latter tend to result mostly from the abandonment of the public good orientation associated with having a public market function in a central location.

This study results from the realization of increasing developmental pressures and widespread tendencies to multiply specialized retail offers in both traditional, and especially, innovative commercial formats. The findings comprise the identification of public policies aimed at augmenting the relevance of commercial urbanism and urban regeneration strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore fruit and vegetable (FV) procurement disparity across income groups.

This study uses mean comparison and quintile regression to explain FVs variations.

Households from the highest income quantile spend more than two times on FVs than households from the lowest quantile; however, this expenditure disparity is largely mitigated in terms of purchase quantity. This paper presents evidence that, rather than quantity discounts or income neighborhood, the type of store (traditional markets vs supermarkets) plays a relevant role in explaining the smaller gap in terms of purchase quantity.

Traditional markets help low-income households access low-cost FVs.

The authors generate evidence to show that traditional markets play a relevant role to supply affordable FV to low-income households.

The paper used a high-quality and uncommon data set. It is a topic of high social impact.

Voluntary food co‐operatives (VFCs) remain a relatively under‐researched area of academic enquiry. However, they represent an important form of retail provision for particular consumer groups. This paper examines the role and purpose of VFCs in Scotland. It details the primary reasons behind their establishment and examines their different methods of operation. Placed within a framework of food retail access, the research identifies the important contribution VFCs make to alleviating poverty and promoting healthy eating in inner urban areas. Significant differences exist between VFCs and the paper therefore concludes with a typology of different voluntary food co‐operatives.

School-aged children living in Montgomery and Troy located in Central Alabama are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. This study used a one-group pre-test–post-test research design to investigate if gardening and nutritional activities could be used as effective intervention to reduce levels of food insecurity among school-aged children. Statistical results found that several of the participants live in urban food deserts. Food insecurity scores were higher for participants in Montgomery compared to those in Troy, AL. The relationship between parental income, household size, and location were important indicators for measuring food insecurity among participants. Recommendations for future research include expanding the scope of study to different sites and climates with larger samples to enhance our understanding of gardening and nutritional educational activities on food insecurity among school-aged children.

The objective of this article is to analyze fruit and vegetable (FV) purchasing decisions between 2011–12 and 2016–17 in Chile, and FV purchases by level of education in this period as determinant to explain dietary disparities across population groups.

Using Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, the authors analyze FV purchases over time. Taking into consideration censoring, this study uses two waves of the Family Budget Survey (national representative) by the National Statistics Institute of Chile.

The authors find that when comparing income quintiles 1–4, between 2011–12 and 2016–17, the years of education of the household head cannot explain FV purchases disparities. In contrast, in income quintile 5, between 2011–12 and 2016–17, the marginal effect of education of the household head has significantly decreased FV purchases. When analyzing social determinants, gender and income quintiles in 2016–17, they do not have a significant effect on FV purchase disparities. However, the zone of the household, metropolitan zone vs other urban zones in the country has a significant effect on FV purchase disparities.

The datasets cover food home purchases.

The authors can conclude the relevance of implementing policies and programs to lead for healthier food environments such as offer more FVs in the school feeding program and social protection nutrition sensitive measures.

Using two waves of a nationally representative dataset, this article decomposes the effect of education of the household head to explain FV purchase disparities.