Food Deserts in South L.A.
A Geodesign Intervention
Food desert: an area with a 20% or higher poverty rate and in which one-third of the population lives more than one mile away from a supermarket.
Context
While the city of Los Angeles, California is well known for its beaches, Hollywood hills, and congested traffic, one aspect of the city that has been booming recently is its food scene. Located within the highest agricultural producing state in America, Los Angeles has access to a wealth of fresh foods and a variety of cultures that make creative use of these fresh foods by curating extremely unique, satisfying cuisines. This access to fresh foods and restaurants, however, is not a reality for all Angelenos.
The region of South Los Angeles, California is a community with extremely limited access to fresh food. In fact, South L.A. is currently considered a food desert. The lack of access to fresh foods and a drought of supermarkets results in an influx of fast food restaurants, liquor stores, and small convenience stores.
Food deserts pose a significant risk to the health and wellbeing of citizens. In general, in the developed world the poorer you are, the more likely you are to depend, for the majority of your calories, on highly processed and nutritionally inadequate food. And the more likely you are to die of diet-fueled diseases like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and type 2 diabetes. People living in food deserts who often rely on fast food have seven times the risk of having a stroke before age 45, double the risk of heart attack and type 2 diabetes, and four times the risk of kidney failure (Robbins, 2020).
Beyond immediate health risk, the presence of food deserts presents an issue of systemic racism. One study conducted by The Food Trust organization found that Black Americans are nearly 400% more likely than White Americans to live in a neighborhood or community that lacks a full-service supermarket (Robbins, 2020). Specifically in the state of California, 7 out of every 10 Latinx people are obese, and they make up two-thirds of the state’s food insecure households (Portnoy, 2020).
Objective
In order to optimize the health and economic outcomes for South Angelenos and reduce systemic inequities, our Geodesign intervention seeks to increase the amount of access to supermarkets in South L.A.
The Study Area
Location
South LA region boundaries
South Los Angeles (also referred to as South-Central Los Angeles) represents the southern-central region of Los Angeles County, California. The area, located just south of Downtown Los Angeles, contains 28 neighborhoods. The 51-square-mile region has a population of approximately 750,000 residents.
Demographics
L.A. Times Demographic Data for South L.A.
Income
L.A. Times Income Data for South L.A. (reported in $1000)
Education
L.A. Times Education Data for South L.A.
The residents of South Los Angeles have a relatively low education level with only 8.2% of residents 25 years or older holding a 4-year degree.
Age
L.A. Times Age Data for South L.A.
Housing
L.A. Times Housing Data for South L.A.
Housing in South L.A.
Economy
The economy of South Los Angeles is currently not functioning well and needs improvement. Nine percent of all Los Angelenos live in census tracts with the highest rate of poverty across the state of California, but one in three of those Angelenos live in South Los Angeles (“A New Economy for South Los Angeles,” 2020). The majority of jobs are low-wage and temporary, there is a significant unemployment problem within the region (SCOPE, 2020). Additionally, as of 2018, the South-Central region has nearly 800 homeless individuals (LAHSA, 2020).
Poverty in South L.A.
Social Atmosphere
Where South L.A. lacks in its economy, it makes up for in its social scene. There is a strong sense of community due to the prominence of Latin American immigrants with shared backgrounds and experiences. When exploring the region, one may find stunning murals, Mexican food trucks, or Catholic churches, all of which display the increasingly prominent Latinx culture that permeates the region. Many of the economic and social spheres for South Angelenos are intrinsically linked. For example, some corner stores and restaurants are family owned and create an atmosphere that promotes socialization and community.
Mural in South L.A.
Food Desert
As discussed, South L.A. is in a food desert crisis. A walk through South L.A. reveals a surplus of liquor stores, fast food restaurants, and small convenience stores, but very few supermarkets. In fact, our spatial analysis found that there were merely seven supermarkets in the entirety of the South L.A. region. Further spatial analysis revealed that there were many more fast food restaurants within the region. As a result of this contrast, the Los Angeles City Council signed a moratorium on building new fast food restaurants in South L.A. during 2008 that is still in effect today (NBC News, 2008).
Supermarkets vs. Fast Food Restaurants in South L.A.
Advantages of the Study Area
The advantage of the study area is that there are a lot of people. There are actually over 12 million. This is an advantage because if the issue of food deserts could be brought to the public there are lots of people who would be able to volunteer their time or money to help solve the issue.
Map showing Los Angeles Population Density (Total 12 Million People)
Disadvantages of the Study Area
The disadvantages of the study area is the lack of affordable transportation in Los Angeles. There is a LA metro which is an efficient way of transportation but it does not reach all the areas that are affected by the food deserts. More transportation is not the issue although It could help. The main issue is that there is not affordable transportation that reaches all areas. Ubers are too expensive, buses are too slow and the metro doesn't reach all areas.
Map Showing How The Metro Only Connects High End Areas Of Los Angeles
Another disadvantage of the study area is that most of the food desert locations are in run down areas of town. This makes it harder to implement changes are nearly all large buildings in the area would need to be heavily refurbished or even teared down to create room for grocery stores. It is common for there to be gang activity in these run down areas as well which further scares away large corporation from being represented in that area.
Los Angeles Strip Mall Known For Gang Activity
GeoDesign Intervention
As previously stated, our geodesign intervention is focused on increasing the amount of access to supermarkets in south LA. Our first step towards this was determining data needs that would aid us in conducting this intervention.
We chose to utilize a supermarket heat map (displayed below) created by Jim Herries from the Urban Observatory project, who drew from the intersection of 2010 U.S. Census and Esri business location data to investigate how many low-income communities are within reasonable proximity to a supermarket, which he defined as a one mile walk or a ten-minute drive. However, for the purposes of this project, as many lower-income South LA residents often do not have access to personal automobiles, we chose to focus primarily on the first criterion in framing our study. Then, we used neighborhood boundaries from the Mapping LA neighborhood study to identify four at-risk neighborhoods, which contained the highest densities of low-income residents that lack supermarket access.
Community Engagement
With this Geodesign intervention, we hope to use an asset-based community development framework to retrofit local south LA stores. Using this framework, we hope to identify and mobilize existing community assets, and leverage existing community spaces and strong social atmosphere of the community to foster opportunities that will provide citizens of South LA access to more nutritious foods (Stuart).
ABCD Model
To revitalize the study area, our major goal is to retrofit local stores to provide groceries and utilize public community spaces for produce stands.
Precedents
Hank's Mini Mart
Hank’s Mini Mart is a successful case study where a local liquor store was retrofitted; the owner was supported in this transition by Sweetgreen, a healthy salad chain. When changes were made to retrofit Hank’s, monthly revenue tripled. The owner of Hank’s remarked that in their previous operating capacity as a liquor store, the only customers they attracted were consumers purchasing liquor. With the new restructuring, they attracted a new market segment in families and other consumers that were seeking out grocery stores. Today, Hank’s Mini Mart is a community gathering space, which is demonstrative of the immense potential there is in reconfiguring local South LA stores with healthier wares (Lui).
Hank's Mini Mart exterior after renovations
Hank's Mini Mart interior after renovations
SÜPRMARKET
SÜPRMARKET is the first organic pop-up produce stand in south LA, and was founded by Olympia Auset in 2016. She was inspired to found this stand after her two hour commutes to find healthy food while living in South LA, and specifically seeks to create affordable opportunities for her community to purchase affordable organic produce (she accepts EBT!) Additionally, through this stand, she partners with local artisans such as Baba’s Vegan Cafe. Today, SÜPRMARKET hosts weekly pop-ups, holds one special event per month, and has established a grocery delivery service. Currently, Auset is working to build a permanent, physical location that will serve as a hybrid grocery story/restaurant, which she plans to open in 2021. (McLaughlin).
Olympia Auset at SÜPRMARKET stand
Click the button below to learn more about SÜPRMARKET's mission statement, as well as some of their existing programs.
