Defining Charlotte's Food Access Geography

What areas of Charlotte are within walking distance of fresh foods, and what are the effects of walkability to food markets on Charlotte&rsquo;s housing market? Research in the United States on food deserts commonly takes the USDA&rsquo;s approach of analysis at the Census Tract level. When considering urban contexts, like those found in the City of Charlotte, this geography is too broad for a granular analysis and may be biased toward automobile use for food access. In this paper, I hypothesized that: <ul> <li>Charlotte&rsquo;s wealthier communities have higher walkable access to food</li> <li>There is a correlation between access and higher home values/prices</li> </ul> Through a mixed methods approach, I created service areas of Charlotte&rsquo;s pedestrian network and then used my analysis to inform a regression model of the relationship between residential sale price data and food markets access. Findings show that food deserts within the City of Charlotte overlap with regions of racial discrimination and transportation infrastructure disinvestment. They also show how seniors have higher car dependence for food access. To combat this, Charlotte can utilize land use tools to increase density near food markets and legalize corner stores as well as create policies which promote food markets that are accessible geographically and economically.