Abstract
‘Food deserts’ are known as populated areas with no or limited fresh food access. Access to fresh nutritional food affects people’s lives in several ways, such as issues linked with poverty, diet-related health problems, increased inequalities and limited opportunities. Little research exists on the conceptual grounding of the urban ‘food desert’ phenomenon, which is predominantly focused on addressing food access via geographical distance and limited in discussion beyond consumers' barriers to access food. The scope of this thesis is on the role of agency and power in urban ‘food deserts’ in the UK that are currently under-represented and under-theorised in the literature.This research investigates the issue of urban ‘food deserts’ considering the arguments of supply (food provision) and demand (food access), market forces, and the role of agency and power to maintain and mitigate the phenomenon in the UK (meso) and city (micro) level. The research investigation has three phases: (i) a strategy for qualitative research via semi-structured interviews to develop underlying knowledge through the thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with meso-level key informants and (ii) ‘soft’ Action Research with concepts of agency and power from sociology is adopted for a local inquiry into perceptions of ‘food deserts’ in the Portsmouth community (micro-level); (iii) further development and refinement of theoretical proposals in the thesis by applying these to a critical case study of Portsmouth, UK. An abductive, interpretivist-constructionist approach is adopted to gain practical learning and knowledge within the national and local context. The second inquiry had to be adapted entirely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. This meant finding a new way to facilitate and conduct the inquiry online.
A key contribution is an enhanced definition and conceptualisation of the urban ‘food deserts’ in the UK, which is enhanced by incorporating the elements of agency and power as critical components in debates. This is novel and supported by the empirical data. This study challenges the overreliance on physical distance as a key determinant in an urban ‘food desert’. Instead, this study suggests that disposable income seems to be a more important factor, and this is linked to where people can afford to shop rather than just using physical distance as a proxy. Findings highlight that the core problem with urban ‘food deserts’ is not in consumers’ distance to shops, as defined in the literature, but in the structure of the food system and how it has been established due to market failure.
This thesis makes a significant contribution to the literature on urban ‘food deserts’ by revisiting the concept and investigating the critical importance of agency and the element of power. It provides potential solutions and mitigation of this type of food insecurity in cities on the meso (UK) and micro level, represented by the Portsmouth community. The second contribution is to further our understanding of how agency and power can be mobilised in the ‘soft’ Action Research method of the Appreciative Inquiry Method (AIM). The third contribution is the adaptation of AIM to make it work online, which had not been tried previously. The findings of this thesis have practical implications for academics in revisiting and adjusting the conceptual framework for urban ‘food deserts’; food policymakers and local authorities in highlighting the need to assess their strategy within their local settings; and practitioners of Action Research.
| Date of Award | 31 Oct 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Jana Ries (Supervisor) & Lisa Jack (Supervisor) |