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The dynamics of food shopping behavior: Exploring travel patterns in low-income Detroit neighborhoods experiencing extreme disinvestment using agent-based modeling

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  • Igor Vojnovic
  • Arika Ligmann-Zielinska
  • Timothy F LeDoux

Abstract

Only a handful of studies have leveraged agent-based models (ABMs) to examine public health outcomes and policy interventions associated with uneven urban food environments. While providing keen insights about the role of ABMs in studying urban food environments, these studies underutilize real-world data on individual behavior in their models. This study provides a unique contribution to the ABM and food access literature by utilizing survey data to develop an empirically-rich spatially-explicit ABM of food access. This model is used to simulate and scrutinize individual travel behavior associated with accessing food in low-income neighborhoods experiencing disinvestment in Detroit (Michigan), U.S. In particular, the relationship between trip frequencies, mode of travel, store choice, and distances traveled among individuals grouped into strata based on selected sociodemographic characteristics, including household income and age, is examined. Results reveal a diversified picture of not only how income and age shape food shopping travel but also the different thresholds of tolerance for non-motorized travel to stores. Younger and poorer population subgroups have a higher propensity to utilize non-motorized travel for shopping than older and wealthier subgroups. While all groups tend to travel considerable distances outside their immediate local food environment, different sociodemographic groups maintain unique spatial patterns of grocery-shopping behavior throughout the city and the suburbs. Overall, these results challenge foundational tenets in urban planning and design, regarding the specific characteristics necessary in the built environment to facilitate accessibility to urban amenities, such as grocery stores. In neighborhoods experiencing disinvestment, sociodemographic conditions play a more important role than the built environment in shaping food accessibility and ultimately travel behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Igor Vojnovic & Arika Ligmann-Zielinska & Timothy F LeDoux, 2020. "The dynamics of food shopping behavior: Exploring travel patterns in low-income Detroit neighborhoods experiencing extreme disinvestment using agent-based modeling," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-25, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0243501
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243501
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vojnovic, Igor & Darden, Joe T., 2013. "Class/racial conflict, intolerance, and distortions in urban form: Lessons for sustainability from the Detroit region," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 88-98.
    2. Kotval-K, Zeenat & Vojnovic, Igor, 2016. "A socio-ecological exploration into urban form: The environmental costs of travel," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 87-98.
    3. Keumseok Koh & Rebecca Reno & Ayaz Hyder, 2019. "Examining disparities in food accessibility among households in Columbus, Ohio: an agent-based model," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(2), pages 317-331, April.
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