There Is Low-Hanging Fruit up There: Urban Accessibility of Street Markets in Santiago, Chile

Abstract

Background According to Chile´s National Association of Street Markets, there are 925 street markets in the country, which sell about 75% of fruits and vegetables are sold every year in the country. The popularity of street markets is, in part, explained by the fact that green products cost between 30- 0% less than in supermarkets. Until now, most research on street markets in Latin America have examined aspects other than urban accessibility Aims: to analyze how much of the urban grid is covered by street markets in each of the municipalities of Santiago, Chile, considering a 600 m threshold (roughly equivalent of a 10-minute walk), as well as the percentage of households of the different income groups with access to these markets within this threshold. Methods Using the Network Analyst tool of SIG-based Arc GIS system 10.0, the 331 streets markets were analyzed in terms of accessibility overlaid on the street axis map of Santiago. Results Street markets cover 52% of the city´s urban grid. It is also indicates that this percentage varies depending on people's income. This research also showed that 59% of households in the city have a street market within the ten-minute-walk threshold. However, this figure changes depending on the socioeconomic group: households of lower income are more likely to have a street market in their vicinity than affluent ones. Indeed, while only 28.6% of all households in the ABC1 group have a street market within the 600 m radius, nearly 70% of all households belonging to the D and E groups can access a street market within the same distance. Conclusions Chile's nutritional policies should incorporate street markets as key players in the fight against obesity and sedentary lifestyles.