Assessing the community food environment: examining the impact of retail food availability and accessibility along travel routes for office workers in Polk County, Iowa
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Community and regional planning is a professional field of study aimed at assessing the ever-changing socioeconomic and physical environments of our communities and planning for their future. Planners evaluate and seize opportunities to understand and solve problems. Most planners work at the local level, but they are concerned with issues that affect the world: the preservation and enhancement of the quality of life in a community, the protection of the environment, the promotion of equitable economic opportunity; and the management of growth and change of all kinds.
History
The Department of Community and Regional Planning was established in 1978 when it was split from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Community Planning.
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1978–present
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- Department of Landscape Architecture and Community Planning (predecessor, 1978)
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Abstract
This research investigates spatial access to the food environment along work travel routes for a sample of office workers in Polk County, IA. It also evaluates Facilitated Volunteered Geographic Information (f-VGI) methodology as a tool for enhancing public participation, and for collecting user-generated spatial data on the food environment, especially along travel routes. Results of pilot testing of the f-VGI methodology demonstrate the importance of accurate and reliable measurement tools and techniques in food environment studies. It also underscores the value of participatory methodologies in accessing data to enable inclusionary decision-making in community planning and design.