A social justice perspective to urban food deserts: A review

SU Shiliang; HU Lirong; ZHANG Hui; WENG Min

doi:10.3981/j.issn.1000-7857.2020.07.012

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Science & Technology Review ›› 2020, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (7) : 93-100. DOI: 10.3981/j.issn.1000-7857.2020.07.012

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A social justice perspective to urban food deserts: A review

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School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China

Abstract

Food deserts are commonly defined as the socioeconomically disadvantaged areas lacking of or with restricted access to healthy foods. Understanding food deserts and their association with public health from the lens of social justice is of great theoretical and practical significance for healthy city planning and design. After summarizing the food desertconceptualizations, this paper proposes a conceptual framework for understanding food deserts and then reviews the relevant literaturefrom three aspects: healthy food accessibility, socioeconomic inequalities in healthy foods provision, and health consequences of food deserts. Results show that (1) cross-regional comparative analysis is helpful for understanding food deserts with different socioeconomic contexts; (2) an interdisciplinary approach is essential for understanding food deserts; and (3) a quantitative method of related policyperformance is critical for addressing food deserts.

Key words

food deserts / food environment / public health / healthy city

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SU Shiliang, HU Lirong, ZHANG Hui, WENG Min. A social justice perspective to urban food deserts: A review[J]. Science & Technology Review, 2020, 38(7): 93-100 https://doi.org/10.3981/j.issn.1000-7857.2020.07.012

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