Food deserts are a big problem for many of Hamilton County’s
impoverished families, but ongoing research suggests officials
may be overlooking mobility when attempting to pinpoint
neighborhoods that lack access to healthy foods. University of
Cincinnati professor Michael Widener is heading research that
looks into how mobility can alter perceptions about food
deserts. So far, his findings have suggested that some people
may have access to healthy foods throughout their daily commute
despite being classified as living in a food desert. Widener
explains the research is necessary to make identifying food
deserts more accurate. “In previous work and when I was doing my
dissertation, I was noticing how a lot of food desert research
failed to take into account the dynamics of everyday urban
life,” he says. The observation led Widener to incorporate those
dynamics, particularly people’s movements throughout the day, to
see how they impact people’s access to food. Still, Widener
cautions that his findings don’t dismi