The ACSP Conference invited Graduate students to prepare poster presentation highlighting their research. Co-authoured with Leia Minaker, Lindsey Soon shares An Analysis of Retail Food Environments Surrounding Secondary Schools and Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Status.
Description: At the intersection of equity and the built environment, planners and researchers consider the unique needs of vulnerable populations, such as youth, when considering how to effectively and equitably intervene on the built environment to promote well-being. diverse municipal food policies aimed at increasing the nutritional quality of the food supply have been described. One such planning policy proposes to reduce individuals’ exposure to sources of non-nutritious foods (e.g., fast food outlets and convenience stores), for example, through zoning restrictions. Several communities in Canada are currently considering zoning restrictions to ban fast food outlets and convenience stores from opening within walking distance (800m – 1km) of schools. The purpose of this research is to estimate the population-level exposure of youth to fast-food outlets and convenience stores under a number of different policy scenarios (800m ban, 1km ban, no policy) using the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, as a case study. Given the importance of equity in considering planning policy impacts, we also seek to explore how such a policy might differentially impact low- vs. high-income schools. We ask: “How would food environment exposures be projected to change if an 800m and 1km buffer fast food and convenience store ban was implemented surrounding schools at 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years post-implementation vs. no policy implementation?”, and “How would these projected changes differ by the proportion of low-income children at secondary schools in the Region of Waterloo?"