Assessing proximity-based food accessibility as an indicator of urban food security: the case of Milan, Italy
This study employs a GIS-based methodology to analyze Milan's food accessibility, revealing significant spatial inequalities where neighborhood shops and food services are more accessible in higher socio-economic areas, thereby highlighting the need for integrated urban policies to address food spatial justice.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Food security in a city is not just about whether there is enough food to go around. It is about whether a person can actually get that food when they need it. Imagine a neighborhood where the grocery stores are far away, or where the only shops nearby sell expensive, unhealthy items. In such a place, having food available in the city does not mean the residents are secure. Researchers call this broader idea "foodability," which looks at whether people have the ability to reach, afford, and choose the food they need. A key part of this ability is proximity: how close are the places where you can buy or get food to your front door? If you have to travel too far or rely on a car to get a meal, your food security is weaker. This question matters because cities are changing rapidly. As neighborhoods grow and change, the places where we buy food shift too. Some areas might become full of trendy restaurants, while others lose their local corner stores. Understanding where these food opportunities are located, and who lives near them, helps us see if our cities are fair places to live.
In the city of Milan, Italy, two researchers set out to map exactly how close people live to different types of food sources. They wanted to see if the ability to walk to a shop or a restaurant depended on how wealthy or educated the neighborhood was. Milan is a perfect place for this study because it is a dense city with a mix of rich and poor areas, and its food scene has changed a lot in recent years. The team did not just count how many stores existed in the city. Instead, they built a detailed digital model of the city's streets. They started with the actual addresses where people live and calculated how far a person could walk in fifteen minutes at a normal pace. This fifteen-minute walk is a standard measure used by urban planners to define what is considered "close" in a city. They then counted every food shop, supermarket, restaurant, and bar that fell within that walking distance for each home.
The researchers grouped these food places into three main categories to see if they were distributed differently. The first group included small neighborhood shops, like local grocers. The second group covered medium and large supermarkets. The third group consisted of food-service places, such as restaurants, bars, and cafes where people eat out. By looking at these groups separately, they could see if the city offered different kinds of food access in different ways. They also gathered data on the people living in each area, looking at factors like education levels, unemployment rates, and household size to create a score for the socio-economic status of each neighborhood. This allowed them to compare the food access map directly with the map of wealth and social standing.
The results showed a clear pattern, but it was not as simple as the center of the city being rich and the edges being poor. In the central and semi-central parts of Milan, people generally have excellent access to food. They can walk to many different types of shops and restaurants. However, the outer edges of the city are much more mixed. Some peripheral areas have good access, while others have very little. The type of food place matters greatly. Small neighborhood shops and restaurants are much more common in wealthier areas. If you live in a high-income neighborhood, you are likely to find a local grocer or a cafe within a short walk. In contrast, large supermarkets do not follow this pattern as closely. They are often found in semi-peripheral or outer areas, sometimes far from the city center, and their location is less tied to the wealth of the neighborhood. This suggests that while big stores might be available to everyone, the everyday convenience of a local shop is not.
When the researchers overlaid the maps of wealth and food access, they found a significant link between the two. Wealthier neighborhoods tend to have more food options within walking distance, especially for the small shops and restaurants that people use for daily needs. Poorer neighborhoods, particularly those on the outskirts, often have fewer of these convenient options. This does not mean that poor areas have no food at all, but it does mean that residents there may have to walk further or rely on other forms of transport to get their groceries. The study also highlighted a complex situation where some poorer areas have a high number of restaurants and bars. This can create a "food mirage," where food is physically present but might be too expensive or not suitable for daily grocery shopping for the people living there. Conversely, some wealthy areas have surprisingly few food options nearby, showing that money does not always guarantee a dense local food environment.
The study concludes that food access in Milan is not a simple matter of the city center versus the suburbs. It is a patchwork of different conditions that depend heavily on the type of food source and the social makeup of the neighborhood. The researchers found that while there is a clear connection between wealth and the ability to walk to a local shop, this connection is weaker for large supermarkets. This means that simply counting the number of stores in a city is not enough to understand food security. Planners and policymakers need to look at the specific types of food places and where they are located relative to the people who need them. By using this detailed map of walking access, cities can identify exactly where the gaps are and work to ensure that all residents, regardless of their income, have a fair chance to reach the food they need on foot.
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