Assessment of Doubly Disadvantaged Neighborhoods by Healthy Living Environment Exposure

Good access to greenspace and healthy food has commonly been found to be positively associated with health outcomes, despite some studies finding no significant relationship between them. Examining inequalities in accessing greenspace and healthy food among different disadvantaged neighborhoods can help reveal the disadvantaged races/ethnicities in cities with a high level of residential segregation (i.e., population of the same race/ethnicity concentrated in the same neighborhoods). However, existing studies have mostly focused on measuring the inequalities in accessing either greenspace or healthy food alone, which can lead to the inaccurate depiction of disadvantaged neighborhoods in healthy living environments. Therefore, this paper aims at improving the assessment of doubly disadvantaged neighborhoods by considering accessibility to both greenspace and healthy food in the City of Chicago. Our results show that black-majority neighborhoods are the most doubly disadvantaged in terms of exposure to healthy living environments. This study can help guide policymakers to divert more resources towards the improvement of the urban environment for the most doubly disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Automated summary

Good access to greenspace and healthy food has been associated with positive health outcomes, but some studies have found no significant relationship. Examining inequalities in accessing greenspace and healthy food in disadvantaged neighborhoods can reveal racial/ethnic disparities in segregated cities. However, existing studies often focus on measuring inequality in accessing either greenspace or healthy food alone, leading to an inaccurate depiction of disadvantaged neighborhoods' healthy living environments. This study aims to improve the assessment of doubly disadvantaged neighborhoods by considering accessibility to both greenspace and healthy food in Chicago. The results show that black-majority neighborhoods are the most doubly disadvantaged in terms of exposure to healthy living environments. This study can inform policymakers to allocate more resources to improve the urban environment in these doubly disadvantaged neighborhoods.