The Grocery Gap: Food Resource Accessibility in the HRM

Municipalities are at the forefront of these concerns, whether it is due to loss of agricultural land, sprawling neighbourhood designs, lack of public transportation, the list goes on. The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) consistently ranks among the worst of Nova Scotian counties for household food insecurity, where it is estimated that 1 in 5 households are challenged due to inadequate means of food accessibility (Halifax Regional Municipality, n.d.). 

In 2018, The Halifax Regional Municipality placed a bid for the Infrastructure Canada Smart Cities Challenge and identified food security as the most significant issue to its surrounding communities (Halifax Regional Municipality, n.d.). The Smart Cities Challenge is intended to give cities the opportunity to “adopt a smart cities approach to improve the lives of their residents through innovation, data and connected technology” (Infrastructure Canada, 2019). While the bid was unsuccessful, the Halifax Regional Municipality has identified commitment to becoming a food secure municipality. As part of achieving community food security, the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) identifies six factors that must be met in its communities. These factors are characterized as accessibility, affordability, availability, adequacy, and awareness (Halifax Regional Municipality, 2019).  (For more information, click this  link .)

While much published research has focused solely on route planning to the location of food resources, little research has gone into addressing multiple factors that affect food accessibility in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). 

For the purpose of this project, I will examine the adequacy, availability, and accessibility of food resources in the HRM. These criteria will be combined into one measure that encompasses food resource accessibility within the HRM to better understand food access in various communities.

For this purpose of this analysis, shapefile data of the residential dwellings was used instead of population density in order to depict a more accurate representation of the urban development patterns in the HRM. As seen below, it is noted that a higher distribution of residential dwellings are located within the Halifax Peninsula, Downtown Dartmouth and Lower Sackville. Suburban communities represent a significant proportion of the residential dwellings and illustrate the sprawling housing development patterns in the municipality. While rural communities are also often widely dispersed, they represent a smaller distribution of residential dwellings in the HRM. 

Within the Halifax Regional Municipality, 98 food resources were identified that were determined as large-scale supermarkets, independent grocers, speciality grocers, meat and vegetable markets, farmers markets, and food banks. Food resources that were not included in this analysis include convenience stores, pharmacies or drug stores that sell food, as well as warehouse clubs that require membership (such as Costco). The mentioned food resources were not included due to its inability to offer a vast selection of food or due to additional membership costs that hinders accessibility to food resources. 

The  Massachusetts Food Access Index Model  influenced this study in determining how to assign weights based on quality of food resource and connect it to the distance from the food resource (Fanous, Habeeb, Matthews, & Raczka, 2016). The weighted food retailer categories were changed to accommodate food resources that were not included in the analysis. Furthermore, this analysis paid particular attention to the model in representing the results; however, the methodology to achieve the result was adapted to reflect current software geo-processing tools. 

The first part of this research was to produce a dataset of food resources within the Halifax Regional Municipality. Acquiring locations of food resources was obtained by searching addresses in Google Earth Pro and downloading the KML files. The KML files would then be converted to a feature class in ArcPro. Once the dataset was created, the next step in the research was assigning weights to the food resource type based on the ability to provide various options that contribute to a healthy diet. The weight categorization is defined below:

5. Large-Scale Grocers

4. Independent Grocers, Small-Scale Grocers

3. Meat Markets, Fresh Produce Markets, Farmers Markets

2. Specialty Food Markets, Bulk Food Stores

1. Food Banks

Food resources that were not included in this analysis include convenience stores, pharmacies or drug stores that sell food, as well as warehouse clubs that require membership (such as Costco).

Using network analyst to determine the walking and driving service areas and joining the facilities ID's to the FID's of the food resources, I was able to determine areas that were serviced by low to high quality food resources.

The Guidelines for Providing Journeys by Foot (2000) suggests that a 400m walking distance within town centres is most acceptable, while the preferred maximum distance is 800m. Additionally, locations outside the town centre consider 800m walking distance acceptable, and 1200m as a most preferred maximum. These guidelines have since been challenged by more recent publications to increase the distances; however have not been implemented into policy (Wakenshaw & Bunn, 2015). Since this analysis will be applied across the urban to rural transect, a 500m and 1km walking distance service area from food resources was chosen to reflect a reasonable distance that any person may travel on foot to reach a food resource. While a person with no physical impairment may be able to travel longer distances on foot, the chosen distances cater to represent a wide range of abilities, such as people who have physical impairments, visual impairments, or cognitive impairments. 

To interpret the maps below, hover over the layer file in the bottom left hand corner to display the legend. Dark red (1) represents the assigned distance from lowest weighted food resources, while dark green (5) represents the assigned distance from highest weighted food resources.

With the data produced from the combination of weighted food resources and distances from food resources, the result created an index that represents the accessibility to high-quality food resources. The range of the scores vary from 0 (low access) to 15 (high access). While there are multiple combinations of food access scores, a score of 15 will indicate that a person will have access to at least one food resources from each category.

• Scores between 12-15: Represent areas that guarantee access to food resources and at least one large-scale grocery.
• Scores between 9-12: Represent areas that have a high likelihood of being in proximity to at least one large-scale grocer.
• Scores between 6-9: Represent areas that have a moderate likelihood of being in proximity to at least one large-scale grocer.
• Scores between 3-6: Represent areas that have low access to food resources with the likelihood of being in proximity to a small-scale grocer, market, specialty grocer, or food bank.
• Scores between 0-3: Represent areas that have very low access to food resources with no guaranteed access to a food resource of any kind. 

The following maps help visualize the mean food accessibility scores per dissemination area within the Halifax Regional Municipality. To interact the maps below, simply click and drag on the map and use the + or - button to explore different parts of the municipality.

On a municipal level, the food access scores are widely distributed across the municipality, with greater accessibility on the peninsula, and lower scores of food access farther away from the urban centre. The results of this analysis will be analyzed through the sub-geographies of the Halifax Regional Municipality; Regional Centre, Suburban, and Rural.

The results of the mean food accessibility scores surrounding the Halifax Peninsula illustrate that the south-end community of Halifax and central Halifax indicate that various high-quality food resources are accessible within a 500m walking distance. However, communities in the north end of the Peninsula, such as Mulgrave Park and Convoy Place, as well as communities in the West-End experience the most challenges in accessing high-quality food resources. While Downtown Dartmouth also services a high residential area, there are not as many food resource opportunities.

In comparison to a 1km walking distance service area, communities within the North-End of the Halifax Peninsula continue to experience injustice in food resource accessibility by foot. In Dartmouth, residents in the north-end also experience food inaccessibility. For residents just beyond the Halifax Peninsula, the maps illustrate that residents of Clayton Park have limited access to high-quality food resources by foot within a 500m and 1km catchment. 

By analyzing walking and driving service areas, it was determined that those with access to a vehicle have greater access to a variety of food resources. This statement is especially true for those living in suburban neighbourhoods in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Unlike the Halifax Peninsula, suburban communities are limited for accessing high-quality food on foot. It is noted that the design of suburban built environments is intended to promote car usage, thus creating restrictions for simple pedestrian access to food resources. Suburban communities such as Cole Harbour, Bedford, and Sackville represent areas that may be accessible by foot beyond a 1km walking distance; however, primarily designed for vehicular movement. 

It is clear from this analysis that residents within rural communities experience the lowest accessibility to high-quality food resources with consideration to the walking and driving distances applied. As a result, the food access scores conclude that rural communities within the Halifax Regional Municipality are largely car-dependent to access any food resource no matter the distance. As depicted on the maps, rural communities east of Cole Harbour and West of Prospect represent inaccessible locations to high-quality food resources beyond 10km. 

This study explored the issues of food adequacy, availability, and accessibility to food resources. The study concluded that some urban areas on the Halifax Peninsula have significantly more access than others and confirms that communities in the North End of the Peninsula experience low access to high-quality food resources. Additionally, suburban and rural areas have low pedestrian access to food due to prioritization of vehicular access. A major contribution to this research was resulted in the utilization of the Massachusetts Food Access Index. To further this research, more time would offer even more significant results to address transit access and other methods of food resources. In order to achieve community food security, professionals and decision-makers must acknowledge that food accessibility affects everyone. Extensive research regarding these topics are not to be taken lightly, and as mentioned, may be costly for human health. While continuing research on food accessibility is necessary to offer insight on possible solutions, adopting similar measures into community planning practice and policy can aid in closing the grocery gap.

In order to produce the maps of accessibility scores from food resources, a dataset of food resources was created through the collection of geocodes extracted from Google Earth as KML files. This process included categorizing the food resources by the ability to offer a diverse selection of fresh food to satisfy a healthy diet.Boundary data sources used in this analysis such as Dissemination Areas and Community Plan Areas was obtained from the Halifax Open Data Portal. Furthermore, data concerning residential dwellings was obtained through the datazONE Open Data Portal.

Fanous, J., Habeeb, N., Matthews, C., & Raczka, L. (2016). Massachusetts Food Access Index: A Pilot Method for Assessing Food Access in the Commonwealth. Tufts University, Department of Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning.

Government of Canada. (2012, July 25). Determining Food Security Status. Retrieved November 2019, from Government of Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/food-nutrition-surveillance/health-nutrition-surveys/canadian-community-health-survey-cchs/household-food-insecurity-canada-overview/determining-food-security-status-food-nutrition-surveillanc

Halifax Regional Municipality. (2019). Step 1- Learning about Community Food Security. Retrieved November 2019, from Halifax Regional Municipality: https://www.halifax.ca/about-halifax/regional-community-planning/chapter-1-learning-about-community-food-security

Halifax Regional Municipality. (n.d.). Halifax Smart Cities Challenge. Retrieved November 2019, from Halifax Smart Cities Challenge: https://www.smartcitieshfx.ca

Halifax Regional Municipality. (n.d.). Halifax's Economic Growth Plan 2016–2021. Retrieved November 2019, from Halifax Regional Municipality: https://www.halifax.ca/business/economic-development/economic-strategy

Infrastructure Canada. (2019, May 14). Smart Cities Challenge. Retrieved November 2019, from Infrastructure Canada: https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/cities-villes/index-eng.html

Institution of Highways and Transportation. (2000). Guidelines for Providing Journeys on Foot. Institution of Highways and Transportation.

Larsen, K., & Gilliland, J. (2008). Mapping the evolution of 'food deserts' in a Canadian city: Supermarket accessibility in London, Ontario, 1961–2005. International Journal of Health Geographies, 7(6).

United Nations. (n.d.). Zero Hunger. Retrieved November 2019, from United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/

Wakenshaw, G., & Bunn, N. (2015). How far do people walk? WYG Group, WYG Environment Planning Transport Limited, London. Retrieved from https://www.wyg.com/uploads/files/news/WYG_how-far-do-people-walk.pdf