Atlanta region food access: A study of food access as it relates to population growth

Atlanta region food access: A study of food access as it relates to population growth Derek Romanek (Uli Ingram), Department of Geography and Anthropology, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, 30144 The Atlanta region is one of the fastest growing regions in the United States of America. With a growing population there is an increase in the demand for resources including food. Food security is a global issue and does not only effect developing nations. To improve sustainability the United Nations came up with 17 Sustainable Development goals. To better understand what we can do to improve sustainability and meet the U.N. goals there is a need to study our local economy. This study aims to focus on census tracts with a high percentage of households identified as being low-income and has low access to food stores with an emphasis on the region’s counties that are expecting the greatest percentage growth in the population. Open-sourced geospatial dataset feature layers were acquired from the United States Drug Administration and from the Atlanta Regional Commission. ESRI’s ArcGIS programs were used to create a quantitative choropleth map of the percentage population growth from 2015 to 2050 and a qualitative map of food insecurity in the region. The intended purpose of the mapped data is to illustrate where in the region can expect the greatest percentage increases in population juxtaposed to the regions census tracts dealing with current food insecurity issues. The greatest concentration of food insecurity was expected to be in Atlanta, but it is anticipated that there will be greater growth in the surrounding region. The expected result of this study is to anticipate areas that can expect to see a high percentage increases in the population with food insecurity. When we identify areas in need of food security assistance, we can make more efforts to the improve the well-being of the people in that community