Our model revealed areas which are high risk of being food insecure, labelled as food deserts. These areas appeared to primarily reside on the outskirts of the community and were located near industrial areas. Based on our criteria, there was no single location that was identified as food insecure, rather, there were many areas that were of risk of being categorized as a food desert. The analysis spatially represents where food insecurity may exist based on our criteria as identified in Objective 3. Figure 11 indicates different levels of risk of food deserts in the Community of Hamilton.
Figure # 11: Food desert risk map.
The following three maps indicate proximity to high, medium and low risk areas of food insecuirty. This represents the output of the cost distance function away from the food deserts showing the risk of being located close, somewhat close and far away from a food insecure area. Figure #12 displays proximity to low risk areas, Figure #13 displays proximity to medium risk areas, and Figure #14 displays proximity to high risk areas.
Figure #12: Proximity to low risk areas.
Figure #13: Proximity to medium risk areas.
Figure #14: Proximity to high risk areas.
Finally, Figure #15 indicates the most suitable areas to locate new food services which could potenitally mitigate the impacts of food deserts. The intention of this map is to provide a suggestion on the best locations to site new food programs, inlcuding food banks, grocery stores etc. which could help lessen the impact of food insecurity for people living in the identified food deserts.
Figure #15: Most suitable areas to locate new food services.
Overall, our research findings spatially represent areas which may experience factors relating to food deserts, based on the criteria that were identified. The identified areas of high, medium and low risk show the possibility of one area being affected by the neighboring food desert, giving our analysis more complexity and information. These findings indicate a suitable location for new food programs as well, providing an opportunity to mitigate the food insecurity problem.