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Retail Redlining in New York City: Racialized Access to Day-to-Day Retail Resources

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Abstract

Racial residential segregation is associated with health inequalities in the USA, and one of the primary mechanisms is through influencing features of the neighborhood physical environment. To better understand how Black residential segregation might contribute to health risk, we examined retail redlining; the inequitable distribution of retail resources across racially distinct areas. A combination of visual and analytic methods was used to investigate whether predominantly Black census block groups in New York City had poor access to retail stores important for health. After controlling for retail demand, median household income, population density, and subway ridership, percent Black was associated with longer travel distances to various retail industries. Our findings suggest that Black neighborhoods in New York City face retail redlining. Future research is needed to determine how retail redlining may perpetuate health disparities and socioeconomic disadvantage.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by grant #63155 from the Healthy Eating Research Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Ecology, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Naa Oyo A. Kwate & Nelson Saldana

  2. AT&T Labs-Research, Florham Park, NJ, USA

    Ji Meng Loh

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Kellee White

  4. Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Nelson Saldana

Authors
  1. Naa Oyo A. Kwate
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  2. Ji Meng Loh
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  3. Kellee White
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  4. Nelson Saldana
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Correspondence to Naa Oyo A. Kwate.

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Kwate, N.O.A., Loh, J.M., White, K. et al. Retail Redlining in New York City: Racialized Access to Day-to-Day Retail Resources. J Urban Health 90, 632–652 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9725-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9725-3

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