IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i4p2974-d1060018.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Social Exclusion Perspective of Food Insecurity: The Case of Blacked-Out Food Areas

Author

Listed:
  • Daniela Bernaschi

    (Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Florence, 50127 Florence, Italy)

  • Davide Marino

    (Department of Biosciences and Territory, University of Molise, 86090 Pesche, Italy)

  • Angela Cimini

    (Department of Architecture and Project, University of Rome La Sapienza, 00186 Rome, Italy)

  • Giampiero Mazzocchi

    (Department of Policies and Bio-Economics, CREA Council for Agricultural Research and the Analysis of Agricultural Economics, 00187 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

The United Nations Global Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly through Goal 2, simultaneously seeks to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on the agricultural production system and on consumption conditions. This means that ‘access’ to food should be determined with respect to the three dimensions of economic, physical and solidarity access to a quantity of food that fulfils both people’s nutritional needs and environmentally responsible consumption patterns. In Italy, 9.9% of the total population, i.e., six million people, live in a state of food insecurity. In Rome, 9.4% of the population lives in a condition of material deprivation, and applications for Citizens’ Income have increased, as well as food aids which amounted to EUR 20 million in 2020. The relationships between the cost of healthy and sustainable diets (which would cost 60% more than a staple diet) and the increasing economic difficulties people are facing, have prompted a focus on the multidimensional nature of food security, with particular emphasis on people’s ability to access food. In this paper, analyzing the Metropolitan City of Rome (Italy) as a case study, we present a pilot and innovative work on an affordability index to healthy and sustainable diet. A geospatial analysis highlights areas where economic difficulties in accessing food overlap with the shortage/absence of food retail outlets and with a lack of solidarity networks (e.g., civil society food distribution initiatives), allowing a new concept to come into focus, namely the blacked-out food areas . This concept helps to identify those areas in which people are socially excluded and cannot enjoy the same substantive food-related choices as people in other areas. The research outcomes provide insights into the geographical areas and neighborhoods characterized by critical access to healthy and sustainable food, providing crucial information for the planning and implementation of targeted social policies to tackle food insecurity.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniela Bernaschi & Davide Marino & Angela Cimini & Giampiero Mazzocchi, 2023. "The Social Exclusion Perspective of Food Insecurity: The Case of Blacked-Out Food Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:2974-:d:1060018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/2974/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/2974/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. O'Connell, Rebecca & Brannen, Julia, 2021. "Families and Food in Hard Times," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9781787356573, October.
    2. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Nord, Mark & Andrews, Margaret S. & Carlson, Steven, 2011. "Household Food Security in the United States in 2010," Economic Research Report 118021, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Hualin Xie & Yuyang Wen & Yongrok Choi & Xinmin Zhang, 2021. "Global Trends on Food Security Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, January.
    4. Arlette Saint Ville & June Yee Tsun Po & Akankasha Sen & Anh Bui & Hugo Melgar-Quiñonez, 2019. "Food security and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES): ensuring progress by 2030," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(3), pages 483-491, June.
    5. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, 2009. "Food security: definition and measurement," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 1(1), pages 5-7, February.
    6. Amartya K. Sen, 1997. "From Income Inequality to Economic Inequality," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(2), pages 384-401, October.
    7. Daniela Bernaschi & Giacomo Crisci, 2018. "Towards a More Democratic and Sustainable Food System: The Reflexive Nature of Solidarity Purchase Groups and the Migrants’ Social Cooperative “Barikamà” in Rome," Cooperative Management, in: Konstadinos Mattas & George Baourakis & Constantin Zopounidis (ed.), Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security, pages 1-19, Springer.
    8. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Nord, Mark & Andrews, Margaret S. & Carlson, Steven, 2011. "Household Food Security in the United States in 2011," Economic Research Report 134715, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    9. Giampiero Mazzocchi & Davide Marino, 2020. "Rome, a Policy without Politics: The Participatory Process for a Metropolitan Scale Food Policy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-18, January.
    10. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292975.
    11. Sinéad Furey & Christopher Strugnell & Ms. McIlveen, 2001. "An investigation of the potential existence of ``food deserts'' in rural and urban areas of Northern Ireland," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 18(4), pages 447-457, December.
    12. Kelly Levin & Benjamin Cashore & Steven Bernstein & Graeme Auld, 2012. "Overcoming the tragedy of super wicked problems: constraining our future selves to ameliorate global climate change," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 45(2), pages 123-152, June.
    13. Sen, Amartya, 1984. "The Living Standard," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(0), pages 74-90, Supplemen.
    14. Arturo E. Osorio & Maria G. Corradini & Jerome D. Williams, 2013. "Remediating food deserts, food swamps, and food brownfields: helping the poor access nutritious, safe, and affordable food," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 3(4), pages 217-231, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Catalina Cruz-Piedrahita & Francisco-Javier Martinez-Carranza & Maria Mar Delgado-Serrano, 2024. "A Multidimensional Approach to Understanding Food Deserts in Vulnerable Contexts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-19, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hanna Dudek & Joanna Myszkowska-Ryciak & Agnieszka Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska, 2021. "Profiles of Food Insecurity: Similarities and Differences across Selected CEE Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-19, August.
    2. Sabina Alkire & Maria Emma Santos, 2010. "Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries," Human Development Research Papers (2009 to present) HDRP-2010-11, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    3. Zhong, Danruo & Gunnar, Megan R. & Kelly, Aaron S. & French, Simone & Sherwood, Nancy E. & Berge, Jerica M. & Kunin-Batson, Alicia, 2022. "Household food insecurity and obesity risk in preschool-aged children: A three-year prospective study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    4. Tomasz Potocki, 2022. "Locating Financial Capability Within Capability Approach – Theoretical Survey," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 1, pages 96-106.
    5. Heidarlou, Hadi Beygi & Mirshekarlou, Asma Karamat & Lopez-Carr, David & Borz, Stelian Alexandru, 2024. "Conservation policy and forest transition in Zagros forests: Statistical analysis of human welfare, biophysical, and climate drivers," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    6. Debra L. Brucker & Sophie Mitra & Navena Chaitoo & Joseph Mauro, 2015. "More Likely to Be Poor Whatever the Measure: Working-Age Persons with Disabilities in the United States," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(1), pages 273-296, March.
    7. Xia, Jianhong(Cecilia) & Nesbitt, Joshua & Daley, Rebekah & Najnin, Arfanara & Litman, Todd & Tiwari, Surya Prasad, 2016. "A multi-dimensional view of transport-related social exclusion: A comparative study of Greater Perth and Sydney," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 205-221.
    8. Martinet, Vincent & Del Campo, Stellio & Cairns, Robert D., 2022. "Intragenerational inequality aversion and intergenerational equity," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue forthcomi.
    9. Davis, Lauren B. & Sengul, Irem & Ivy, Julie S. & Brock, Luther G. & Miles, Lastella, 2014. "Scheduling food bank collections and deliveries to ensure food safety and improve access," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 175-188.
    10. repec:mpr:mprres:8084 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Georgios Tsaples & Jason Papathanasiou & Andreas C. Georgiou, 2022. "An Exploratory DEA and Machine Learning Framework for the Evaluation and Analysis of Sustainability Composite Indicators in the EU," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(13), pages 1-27, June.
    12. Millimet, Daniel L. & McDonough, Ian K. & Fomby, Thomas B., 2015. "Financial Literacy and Food Security in Extremely Vulnerable Households," IZA Discussion Papers 9103, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Meshach J. Aziakpono & Nicolette Cattaneo & T. D. Karoro, 2008. "Exchange rate pass-through to import prices in South Africa: Is there asymmetry?," Working Papers 086, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    14. Céline Guivarch & Nicolas Taconet, 2020. "Inégalités mondiales et changement climatique," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(1), pages 35-70.
    15. Xu, Aiting & Qiu, Keyang & Zhu, Yuhan, 2023. "The measurements and decomposition of innovation inequality: Based on Industry − University − Research perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    16. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Rabbitt, Matthew P & Gregory, Christian A & Singh, Anita, 2021. "Household Food Security in the United States in 2020," Economic Research Report 327186, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    17. Rüb, Daniel, 2024. "Inequality beyond income quantiles: Distributional effects of climate mitigation policies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    18. Sam Harper & Eric Ruder & Henry A. Roman & Amelia Geggel & Onyemaechi Nweke & Devon Payne-Sturges & Jonathan I. Levy, 2013. "Using Inequality Measures to Incorporate Environmental Justice into Regulatory Analyses," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, August.
    19. Somwrita Sarkar, 2024. "Normative urban science," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 51(5), pages 1079-1081, June.
    20. Freiberg, Germán & Giannotti, Mariana & Bittencourt, Taina A., 2024. "Are mass transit projects and public transport planning overlooking uneven distributional effects? Empirical evidence from Sao Paulo, Brazil," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    21. Tomasz Potocki & Sylwester Białowąs, 2023. "What Factors Predict a Positive Change in a Consumer’s Financial Capability over Time? The New Evidence from Poland," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 634-654, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:2974-:d:1060018. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.