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Engaging diverse community stakeholders to co‐create solutions in food deserts: A design‐thinking approach
Author(s) -
Fernhaber Stephanie A.,
Wada Terri,
Napier Pamela,
Suttles Shellye
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of public affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.221
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1479-1854
pISSN - 1472-3891
DOI - 10.1002/pa.1874
Subject(s) - consolidation (business) , citizen journalism , marketing , context (archaeology) , value (mathematics) , business , food systems , set (abstract data type) , healthy food , public relations , political science , food security , geography , computer science , food science , agriculture , accounting , archaeology , machine learning , law , programming language , chemistry
Most households in the United States, regardless of income, do the majority of their grocery shopping at supermarkets. However, due to the consolidation of the supermarket industry and some neighborhoods not being able to economically sustain a supermarket, more and more households are struggling to conveniently access affordable, healthy food choices. This article describes a participatory design process used to engage a diverse set of stakeholders in the Indianapolis community to cocreate solutions that improve access to healthy and affordable food. Indianapolis offers an insightful context, given that it was recently ranked the worst city in the United States for food deserts. Our results not only demonstrate the value of using a design‐thinking approach in addressing food access issues but also offer unique insight into the problem of food access itself.