PIXELS, PLOWS & PARTNERSHIPS Designing for Food Deserts

vehicle ownership ½-10 miles 1-10 miles

DEFINING FOOD SECURITY

FOOD AVAILABILITY PHYSICAL ACCESS PURCHASING POWER

DOMESTIC PRODUCTION IMPORT CAPACITY

TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

SUPPLY CHAIN STABILITY WEATHER VARIABILITY

LOCAL STORAGE CODES

FOOD UTILIZATION SAFETY & HYGIENE FARMING PRACTICES

CULTURAL ATTITUDES

?

Supplemental  Nutri.on  Assistance  Program  (SNAP)  has  47  million  par.cipants.  They  face  numerous  barriers  to  ea.ng  a  healthy  diet,  from  insufficient  benefit  amounts  to  high  cost  of  healthy  foods  to  lack  of  choices.  

CSA’s  are  allowed  to  accept  payment  through  SNAP.  But  their  ability  to  do  so  is  limited  because  SNAP  prohibits  using  the  SNAP  EBT  (electronic  benefit  transfer  card)  online.  SNAP  par.cipants  must  be  present  at  the  .me  of  delivery  to  purchase  through  a  CSA,  elimina.ng  the  advantage  of  convenience.  On  the  supply  side,  pre-­‐orders  help  farms  plan  ahead  and  avoid  waste.  

Disability  is  an  important  risk  factor  for  food  insecurity.  Reduced  earnings  and  increased  expenses  put  households  at  risk.  Altogether,  about  38%  of  households  with  low  security  included  a  working-­‐age  adult  with  a  disability.  Food  insecurity  is  high  even  in  moderate-­‐income  households  affected  by  disability.  

THE HIDDEN RISKS TO FOOD SECURITY

Lack  of  access  to  healthy  foods  is  an  infringement  on  the  right  of  human  beings.  In  this  country,  there  should  be  no  reason  for  the  lack  of  access  to  fresh,  healthy  food,  but  it’s  not  necessarily  a  cons.tu.onal  right.    Policymakers  are  not  always  quick  to  understand  what  makes  a  healthy  food  system.  They  don’t  understand  reliance  on  public  transporta.on  and  earning  minimum  wage  and  what  effect  that  has  on  food  choices.  

It  takes  more  than  a  produce  aisle  to  refresh  a  food  desert.  You  need  more  interven.on  to  change  behavior.  People  tend  to  fall  into  rou.nes  of  habit,  even  if  beau.ful  and  convenient  op.ons  are  presented.          

“The  presump.on  is,  if  you  build  a  store,  people  are  going  to  come.  We  see  no  effect  of  the  store  on  fruit  and  vegetable  

consump.on.”  ~  Stephen  Ma]hews,  professor  of  sociology,  anthropology  and  demography  at  Penn  

State  University  

“The  presump.on  is,  if  you  build  a  store,  people  are  going  to  come.  We  see  no  effect  of  the  store  on  fruit  and  vegetable  

consump.on.”  ~  Stephen  Ma]hews,  professor  of  sociology,  anthropology  and  demography  at  Penn  

State  University  

“THE PRESUMPTION IS, IF YOU BUILD A STORE PEOPLE WILL COME.”

Stephen Matthews, Penn State University

Shan.  won’t  use  the  water  treatment  facility  because  it  isn’t  designed  for  her  behavior  

AN EXAMPLE OF INHERENT OPTIMISM

Shan.  won’t  use  the  water  treatment  facility  because  it  isn’t  designed  for  her  behavior  

Design  thinking  –  inherently  op.mis.c,  construc.ve  and  experien.al  –  addresses  the  needs  of  the  people  who  will  consume  a  product  or  service  and  the  infrastructure  that  enables  it  

The  “leased”  land  is  not  only  the  ancestral  home  of  the  people  of  Gambella  but  also  the  basis  of  their  en.re  livelihood  and  survival  as  a  .ny  minority  in  the  Ethiopian  family.  For  Gambellans  who  live  as  pastoralist  and  subsistence  farmers,  massive  dispossession  and  auc.oning  off  their  land  for  pennies  risks  inevitably  destroying  the  very  fabric  of  their  society  and  way  of  life  and  threatening  them  with  ex.nc.on.     DESIGN THINKING, DESIGNED POORLY

Design  thinking  misses  opportuni.es  when  we  fail  to  consider  the  culture  and  needs  of  people  in  their  communi.es  

Design  thinking  misses  opportuni.es  when  we  fail  to  

consider  the  culture  and  needs  of  people  in  their  

communi.es  

“TIME AND AGAIN, INITIATIVES FALTER BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT BASED ON

[PEOPLE’S] NEEDS.” Tim Brown & Jocelyn Wyatt, IDEO

Illusions  of  access  in  a  world  of  ci.es.  The  interface  of  the  city  –  one  part  blocks  you  from  something,  while  another  part  invites  you  into  something  else.  A  simple  grocery  aisle  presents  us  with  free-­‐floa.ng  consump.on  items  while  simultaneously  blocking  awareness  of  how  they  were  produced.  

Food  markets  100  years  ago  were  smaller,  mostly  family  owned,  embedded  in  rural  agriculture.  You  knew  the  people  behind  the  counter.  Groceries  were  seasonal  and  organic  by  default.  The  supermarket  brought  about  improvements  in  storage  and  shipping,  but  also  resulted  in  untraceable  supply  chains,  self-­‐service  shopping  and  a  sense  of  isola.on.  

The  supermarket  model  is  one  of  abundance  and  certainly  ripe  for  

disrup.on.  The  average  store  is  46,000  square  feet  and  houses  nearly  40,000  

products  all  seasons.  The  result  is  a  lot  of  waste.  

“The  Internet,  when  taken  in  aggregate,  does  not  reflect  ‘the  world.’  It  reflects  the  relentless  content  produc.on  of  large  global  ci.es,  and  the  aspira.ons  of  transna.onal  urbanites.”  

“The  simple  supermarket  aisle  is  a  sani.zed  interface.  It  presents  us  with  free-­‐floa.ng  consump.on  items  while  simultaneously  blocking  awareness  of  their  prior  produc.on  process  that  happened  somewhere  else.    Most  interfaces  are  like  this.  One  part  blocks  you  from  something,  while  another  part  invites  you  into  something  else.”  

“SUPERMARKETS ARE A KEY INSTITUTION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISCONNECTION.”

Brett Scott

MAXIMIZING PROFIT GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

STANDARDIZED OFFERINGS SLOW DELIVERY OF GOODS

PASSIVE CONSUMERISM

LOCAL GOODS PURPOSEFUL BRANDS PERSONALIZED SERVICE EMPOWERED CONSUMERS EXPERIENTIAL SHOPPING

Some  grocery  chains  like  Safeway  now  offer  home  delivery,  building  new  services  on  top  of  old  infrastructure.  FreshDirect  and  Peapod  sell  a  few  local  items,  but  mostly  deliver  the  same    na.onal  brands  you’d  find  in  any  store.  Instacart  hires  someone  to  do  your  Whole  Foods  or  Trader  Joe’s  run.  Good  Eggs  takes  the  “local”  angle  a  step  further,  making  the  social  element  part  of  their  business  model.  

Hello  Fresh  providers  clear  recipes  and  farm-­‐fresh  ingredients  delivered  to  the  home.  The  menus  change  weekly  and  all  meals  can  be  cooked  in  30  minutes  or  less.  

Online  grocery  shopping  is  not  a  food  desert  panacea.  Instacart,  Good  Eggs  and  the  like  are  in  business  to  appeal  to  higher-­‐income  earners.  They  profit  from  doing  the  heavy  liiing  to  match  farms  with  forks.  Those  dependent  on  WIC  or  SNAP  do  not  fit  the  target  demographic.  

Technology:  stores  using  interac.ve  and  3D  signage;  dynamic  shelf  labels;  “smart”  carts  that  help  pick  items  for  

them,  instant  near  field  communica.ons  (NFC)  that  

enables  quick  purchasing.  The  grocery  store  is  much  more  

experien.al.  

Food  aggregators  like  Good  Eggs,  Amazon  Fresh  and  high-­‐tech  grocery  stores  like  San  Francisco’s  Local  Mission  Market  show  what  can  happen  when  technology  gets  into  the  game.  What  remains  to  be  seen  is  if  these  new  models  are  affordable  enough  for  the  average  American  family.  Or  if,  like  so  many  innova.ons  before  them,  will  only  be  prac.cal  for  a  certain  affluent  segment  of  the  popula.on.  

Posi.ve  deviants  –  human  centered  approach  relevant  to  a  unique  cultural  context  and  will  not  necessarily  work  outside  that  specific  situa.on  

 “I  am  not  sure  that  a  venture  capital  model  based  on  the  pursuit  of  innova.on  is  adequate  to  solve  environmental  problems,  which  have  themselves  been  brought  about  by  a  model  of  growth  that  does  not  respect  planetary  limits.  Innova.on  is  not  an  end  in  itself.”  ~  Rufo  Quintavalle  

“INNOVATION IS NOT AN END IN ITSELF.” Rufo Quintavalle, Stanford Social Review

Victors  &  Spoils  adver.sing  campaign  to  promote  broccoli  –  “you  have  to  create  an  enemy”  and  in  this  case,  the  enemy  was  kale  “the  hipster  vegetable.”    Andy  Nathan   YOU HAVE TO CREATE AN ENEMY

As  of  summer  2013,  approximately  25%  of  the  American  grocery  market  was  controlled  by  Walmart.  In  many  areas,  including  low-­‐income  neighborhoods,  it  runs  closer  to  40%.  

The  fear  is  that  the  only  “fresh”  produce  available  in  food  deserts  will  come  from  Walmart  aier  they  eliminate  the  area’s  small-­‐scale  grocery  markets,  leading  to  increased  (and  more  expensive)  health  risks.  

The  problem  is  that  Walmart’s  profit  margin  is  highly  dependent  on  corporate  welfare:  the  funding  of  SNAP  and  public  assistance  programs  and  their  prac.ce  of  paying  lower  wages.  SNAP  restric.ons  on  processed  food  would  nega.vely  affect  Walmart’s  business      “This  is  a  company  that  everywhere  it  goes,  it  creates  poverty.”  ~  Stacy  Mitchell,  senior  researcher  with  Ins.tute  for  Local  Self-­‐Reliance  

The  problem  is  that  Walmart’s  profit  margin  is  highly  dependent  on  corporate  welfare:  the  funding  of  SNAP  and  public  assistance  programs  and  their  prac.ce  of  paying  lower  wages.  SNAP  restric.ons  on  processed  food  would  nega.vely  affect  Walmart’s  business      “This  is  a  company  that  everywhere  it  goes,  it  creates  poverty.”  ~  Stacy  Mitchell,  senior  researcher  with  Ins.tute  for  Local  Self-­‐Reliance  

“THIS IS A COMPANY THAT CREATES POVERTY EVERYWHERE IT GOES.” Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance

It  is  far  easier  to  stock  junk  food  and  highly  processed  food  products  than  fresh  produce.  They  don’t  spoil  and  require  minimum  labor  to  manage  store  stock.    

“Don’t  eat  anything  your  great-­‐grandmother  wouldn’t  recognize  as  food.”    “Don’t  eat  anything  that  doesn’t  rot.”    Our  current  food  system  is  set  up  to  deliver  the  exact  opposite  of  the  above:  ea.ng  real  food.  

DON’T EAT ANYTHING THAT CAN’T ROT

More  than  36%  of  drinks  that  Walmart  labels  as  “water”  has  

ingredients  that  would  disqualify  them  from  the  shelves  of  Whole  Foods.    

Sucralose  calcium  disodium  EDTA  acesulframe  potassium  potassium  sorbate  

CALCIUM DISODIUM ACESULFRAME POTASSIUM

POTASSIUM SORBATE SUCRALOSE

Renegade  gardener:  ar.st  and  engineer  Ron  Finley  transformed  his  South  Central  Los  Angeles  neighborhood  from  unproduc.ve  grass  into  an  abundant  edible  landscape.  His  ac.ons  provoked  a  na.onwide  reconsidera.on  of  what  it  means  to  be  food  independent  and  to  u.lize  neglected  public  space.  

“FOOD, IF YOU WANT TO CALL IT THAT, IS KILLING US VERY SLOWLY.”

Ron Finley, L.A. Green Grounds

Some  startups  are  working  to  reroute  food  wasted.  Food  Cowboy  is  a  northeast  DC  org  that  repurposes  leiover  food  for  hunger  relief.  According  to  the  Natural  Resources  Defense  Council,  40%  of  food  in  US  goes  uneaten,  oien  discarded  by  commercial  retailers  for  aesthe.c  reasons.    “The  trucker  is  under  .me  pressure.  Oien.mes,  [a]  charity  is  just  a  few  miles  away  from  where  the  shipment  has  been  rejected.”  Food  Cowboy  uses  the  Internet  to  helps  companies  and  truckers  find  each  other.  

40% DISCARDED FOR AESTHETICS

Some  startups  are  working  to  reroute  food  wasted.  Food  Cowboy  is  a  northeast  DC  org  that  repurposes  leiover  food  for  hunger  relief.  According  to  the  Natural  Resources  Defense  Council,  40%  of  food  in  US  goes  uneaten,  oien  discarded  by  commercial  retailers  for  aesthe.c  reasons.    “The  trucker  is  under  .me  pressure.  Oien.mes,  [a]  charity  is  just  a  few  miles  away  from  where  the  shipment  has  been  rejected.”  Food  Cowboy  uses  the  Internet  to  helps  companies  and  truckers  find  each  other.  

CropMobster  does  something  similar,  using  an  online  message  board  (similar  to  Craigslist)  to  connect  food  producers,  grocers  and  food  chari.es.  Combined,  CropMobster  and  Food  

Cowboy  have  saved  an  es.mated  400,000  pounts  of  food  across  seven  states.  

Farmigo  allows  local  farmers  to  sell  their  harvests  to  the  online  community,  seung  their  own  prices  and  earning  supplemental  income.  Farmigo  gives  their  farming  champions  an  online  dashboard  and  local  media  support,  taking  a  20%  commission  on  sales.  More  than  3,500  CSA’s  use  the  service  today.  

In  Minneapolis,  an  ordinance  passed  that  allows  mobile  farmers  markets  to  sell  farm  fresh  food  where  it  isn’t  available,  provided  that  the  store  offers  at  least  50  items  of  fruits  or  vegetables  in  at  least  seven  varie.es.  Urban  Ventures  parks  the  mobile  store  at  elementary  schools  on  weekdays  and  churches  on  Sundays.  

In  Chicago,  community  ac.vists  formed  Fresh  Moves  as  a  grocery  on  wheels.  In  Oakland,  the  People’s  Grocery  created  a  farm-­‐to-­‐table  distribu.on  business  for  low-­‐income  families.  

   But  more  than  that,  people  in  low-­‐income  food  deserts  just  aren’t  used  to  buying  or  preparing  healthy  meals.      “The  next  part  of  the  interven.on  is  to  create  demand,  so  the  community  wants  to  come  to  the  store  and  buy  healthy  food  and  go  home  and  prepare  those  foods  in  a  healthy  way.”  ~  Alex  Ortega,  public  health  research  University  of  California  Los  Angeles.  

What  has  worked  at  UCLA  are  projects  to  convert  corner  stores  into  hubs  of  healthy  fare,  including  cooking  classes  and  nutri.on  educa.on  outreach  at  bus  stops.  

   But  more  than  that,  people  in  low-­‐income  food  deserts  just  aren’t  used  to  buying  or  preparing  healthy  meals.      “The  next  part  of  the  interven.on  is  to  create  demand,  so  the  community  wants  to  come  to  the  store  and  buy  healthy  food  and  go  home  and  prepare  those  foods  in  a  healthy  way.”  ~  Alex  Ortega,  public  health  research  University  of  California  Los  Angeles.  

“THE NEXT PART OF THE INTERVENTION IS TO CREATE DEMAND.”

Alex Ortega, UCLA

People  don’t  respond  to  the  food  police  nagging  them  to  eat  their  vegetables.      Outsiders  dropping  off  bags  of  free  eggplants  mean  well,  but  it  doesn’t  scale.  People  respond  posi.vely  to  cooking  classes  that  celebrate  kitchen  tradi.ons  using  high-­‐quality  ingredients  either  produced  themselves  or  distributed  through  trusted  sources.  

FREE EGGPLANT DOESN’T SCALE

CULTURAL ATTITUDES

?

CULTURAL ATTITUDES

CULTURAL ATTITUDES

Food  represents  heritage,  culture,  love,  faith,  healing  and  pride.  It  binds  families,  builds  communi.es  and  reduces  social  isola.on.  

ShopRite  at  Bakers  Centre  in  Germantown.  Jeff  Brown  of  Uplii  Solu.ons  owns  10  ShopRites  in  Philadelphia’s  underserved  neighborhoods  and  stocks  the  shelves  according  to  local  customers’  requests.  “We  start  many  years  before  we  open  a  store,  working  with  community  groups.  We  focus  on  empowerment  of  customers.”  

That  means  Nicetown’s  SHARE  food  program  brings  in  a  selec.on  of  urban-­‐grown  produce.  Products  from  Africa  and  the  Caribbean,  and  hard-­‐to-­‐find  conveniences  like  a  Credit  Union  branch  and  an  onsite  health  clinic  (with  a  nutri.onist  among  its  staff).  

“WE FOCUS ON THE EMPOWERMENT OF OUR CUSTOMERS.”

Jeff Brown, Uplift Solutions

In  Atlanta,  Rashid  Nuri  turned  a  neglected  property  into  a  six-­‐acre  farm  called  Wheat  Street  Garden.  Customers  keep  returning  for  chemical  free  kale  and  squash.  Families  using  SNAP  benefits  get  $2  worth  of  food  for  every  $1  spent.  

In  Atlanta,  Rashid  Nuri  turned  a  neglected  property  into  a  six-­‐acre  farm  called  Wheat  Street  Garden.  Customers  keep  returning  for  chemical  free  kale  and  squash.  Families  using  SNAP  benefits  get  $2  worth  of  food  for  every  $1  spent.  

“WE’VE GOTTEN TOO FAR AWAY FROM THE LAND.”

Rashid Nuri, Truly Living Well Urban Farms

Mfarm  empowers  Kenya’s  farmers  with  price  transparency  and  market  access.  Jamila  Abass,  a  29-­‐year  old  computer  scien.st  from  Nairobi  and  founder  of  Akirachix.  “They  want  social  responsibility.  By  sourcing  produce  through  MFarm  they  are  playing  a  vital  role  in  development  and  securing  a  consistent  supply  that  is  not  dependent  on  middlemen.”  

IF IT WAS A SNAKE, IT WOULD BITE YOU

“If  it  was  a  snake,  it  would  bite  you.”    You’re  overlooking  something  obvious  –  hidden  in  plain  sight  

“The  world  is  full  of  nice,  smart  people  who  can’t  rake  a  damn  leaf.”    There  is  no  shortage  of  good  ideas  –  don’t  forget  to  rake  the  leaves.  The  difference  between  success  and  failure  is  a]en.on  to  logis.cs.  

YOU CAN’T GET UP FROM THE TOP

“You  can’t  get  up  from  the  top.”    You’re  going  to  stumble  at  .mes.  Every  failure  is  an  opportunity  –  success  is  a  process  

REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM

“Remember  where  you  came  from.”    Get  the  hell  out  of  the  studio  and  learn  how  to  be  a  designer.    Real  world,  prac.cal  experience  trumps  knowledge  when  dealing  with  fundamental  human  needs.    

Some  have  argued  that  food  deserts  aren’t  really  a  problem  in  ci.es.  This  opinion  is  based  on  anecdotal  evidence  from  the  USDA  map  without  appropriate  context.      The  ques.on  to  ask  is:  for  a  person  working  or  looking  for  work,  which  is  more  convenient  for  the  lifestyle:  fast  food  or  raw  produce?  Which  is  easier  to  access  and  consume  during  a  normal  day?  

The  term  “food  desert”  (or  “food  swamp”)  becomes  a  diagnosis  that  labels  a  neighborhood  undesirable,  rather  than  a  target  of  opportunity.  We  become  cri.cs  who  assert  that  it’s  not  the  environment  that’s  broken  –  it’s  the  people  who  live  within  it.  

AFFORDANCE

EMPOWERMENT

ABUNDANCE

THANKS FOR LISTENING Kel.Smith@anikto.com