Research News

Are Poor Neighborhoods 'Retail Deserts'?

February 3, 2012

As the nation suffers a burgeoning obesity crisis, health advocates and policymakers have zoned in on poor neighborhoods they've termed "food deserts" -- areas with few grocery stores and other access to healthy food. But a new USC study finds that many poor urban neighborhoods have high concentrations of grocery and other retail food outlets. More doesn't translate to better, the researchers said, as residents in poor neighborhoods are more likely to be living next to small mom-and-pop food stores instead of large supermarkets. USC Sol Price School of Public Policy assistant professor Jenny Schuetz was the study's lead author.

More research news headlines

• Attitude Is Everything in Walking Study
  January 24, 2012
  
  City planners long have debated how to get people on their feet and cars off the road. But encouraging urban dwellers to go pedestrian could require different strategies depending on their attitudes toward walking, according to USC Sol Price School of Public Policy professor Marlon Boarnet. The research comes at a time when scholars from multiple disciplines tout the value of walking for health and environmental benefits as much as to alleviate congestion.
  
• USC Studies Ideology of Presidential Cabinets
  October 18, 2011
  
  As coverage of the 2012 presidential race gains steam, so begins the hypothesizing: What would a Mitt Romney administration look like? Would a second term for President Barack Obama mean a cabinet shakeup? While conventional political wisdom holds that presidents surround themselves with allies who are in lockstep with their political beliefs, a new USC study, co-authored by USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development associate professor Anthony Bertelli, shows the opposite more often is true.
  
• USC Report Projects Large Shift in U.S. Immigrant Makeup
  October 6, 2011
  
  The percentage of foreign-born U.S. residents with deep roots in the country is rising and will continue to soar in the coming decades, according to a new USC report. The percentage of foreign-born residents who have lived in the United States at least 20 years climbed from 30.4 percent of the foreign-born population in 2000 to an estimated 38.5 percent in 2010; by 2030, the total is predicted to increase to 52.6 percent. "We're marking a major transformation in America," said Dowell Myers, USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development professor and co-author of the report.
  
• Most Physicians Will Face Malpractice Claims, But Risk of Payment is Low
  August 17, 2011
  
  While most physicians in the U.S. will face a malpractice lawsuit at some time in their careers, a new study finds the vast majority of those suits will not result in payment to a plaintiff. The report, which will appear in the Aug. 18 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine, provides the most comprehensive analysis of the risk of malpractice claims by physician specialty in more than two decades. Darius Lakdawalla, director of research at the Schaeffer Center and associate professor at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, is co-author of the study.
  
• Raising U.S. Life Expectancy Could Save $632 Billion
  July 28, 2011
  
  On average, Americans live about a year-and-a-half less than their Western European counterparts and also less than people in most other developed nations. A study in the July issue of Social Science & Medicine is the first to calculate the fiscal consequences of the growing life expectancy gap over the next few decades. USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development faculty Dana Goldman and Darius Lakdawalla, are among the study's authors.
  
• Experts Rethink Disaster Risk Management
  July 28, 2011
  
  From the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina to this year's devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the last decade has shown that disasters -- whether natural or man-made -- are inevitable and that the next one is coming soon. USC hosted the second annual International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRiM) conference, "Reframing Disasters and Reflecting on Risk Governance Deficits," which was co-sponsored by the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development and CREATE Homeland Security Center.
  
• State Census Shows Housing Swap Between Elderly Whites, Young Latinos
  July 12, 2011
  
  The latest California census data show the state's oldest residents fled the housing market in greater numbers between 2000 and 2010 than during the previous two decades, according to a new report by USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development Professor Dowell Myers. This trend will likely worsen as the giant Baby Boomer generation -- which accounts for 3.3 million of California's 7 million homeowners -- nears retirement.
  
• L.A. Is 'Ground Zero' for Shrinking Child Population
  May 24, 2011
  
  Los Angeles County is now the epicenter of California's shrinking population of young children as families are driven away by stressful economic conditions, according to a USC analysis of census data. Statewide, there was an 8.1 percent decline in children aged 5 to 9 in the last decade; L.A. County lost 21 percent. "We are ground zero of the 'missing children' of California," said co-author Dowell Myers, professor at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development.
  
• Martin Krieger Shoots Slices of Life in L.A.
  May 11, 2011
  
  USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development professor Martin Krieger peered at the screen and saw 20 to 30 images of his heart from all different angles. It was three years ago during an echocardiogram. And it was the technology of medical tomography -- imaging multiple slices of an organ from various points of view -- that gave him the idea of how to tie together the photographic and aural documentation he had been doing of Los Angeles since 1997. The result is his new book, Urban Tomographies.
  
• METRANS Named Transportation Organization of the Year
  April 19, 2011
  
  The METRANS Transportation Center has been named Organization of the Year by the California Transportation Foundation (CTF), a leading nonprofit providing support for the transportation community statewide. METRANS is directed by Professor Genevieve Giuliano, senior associate dean for research and technology at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development.
  
• Great Recession Did Not Cause Surge in Poverty
  April 5, 2011
  
  Even as housing prices plummeted and unemployment rates hit double digits, the so-called Great Recession did not correspond to a surge of Americans in poverty, according to a new USC study. Using the latest census figures, the study found conditions in California mostly improved since 2000. "It's surprising to see how well Los Angeles has fared despite greater losses than the nation in housing prices and employment," said lead author Dowell Myers, USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development professor.
  
• Do Children Benefit From Full Day of Kindergarten?
  March 24, 2011
  
  A longer kindergarten day offers few educational benefits for most students learning English as a second language, a new USC study shows, despite a broad national push toward an extended day to help at-risk children. The study, co-authored by SPPD Professor Gary Painter, published March 9 in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, found no meaningful gains on second-grade test scores or improvement in English fluency for the bulk of English-language learners who spent a full day in kindergarten compared to those in a half-day class.
  
• SPPD Signs MOU with State of Gujarat
  March 23, 2011
  
  The USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development (SPPD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the State of Gujarat and the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology University in India to establish a long-term institutional partnership in education and research.
  
• Center for Sustainable Cities Launches New Site
  

  USC's Center for Sustainable Cities -- housed at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development -- launched its newly redesigned Web site: http://sustainablecities.usc.edu. 

  
  

Research Events & Seminars

• Road to the White House: Politics, Media & Technology

  A yearlong series of public conversations
  
  Date / Time:
  Every Wednesday - January 18-April 18, 2012, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
  
  Location:
  University Park Campus, Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC), Forum (Room 450)
  
  

• An Integrated Model of Formal and Informal Housing Sectors

  USC Lusk Center for Real Estate Spring 2012 Research Seminar Series 
  
  
  Featured Speaker: 
  Cheng-Yi Lin, USC 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Friday, February 3, 2012 : 12:00pm to 1:30pm 
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL), Room - TBA
  
  

• Shifting the Burden: Social Services, Safety & Redevelopment

  USC Bedrosian Center-Southern California ASPA Forum 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Friday, February 10, 2012 : 11:30am to 1:30pm 
  
  
  Location: University Park Campus, Radisson Hotel Ballroom
  
  

• Comparing Three CO2 Emission Assessments for Freight Transportation in Paris

  METRANS Seminar Series 
  
  
  Featured Speaker: 
  Dr. Laetitia Dablanc Senior Researcher, IFSTTAR (French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks) 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Wednesday, February 15, 2012 : 12:00pm to 1:30pm 
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL), Room 100
  
  
  
  

• Urban Growth Seminar featuring Hardik Bhatt

  Urban Growth Seminar Series - "The Future of Sustainable Cities: Planning, Policy, and Technology" 
  
  
  Featured Presenter: 
  Hardik Bhatt, Director of Business Development and strategy, Cisco's Global Smart + Connected Communities group 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Tuesday, February 21, 2012 : 12:15pm to 1:30pm 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL), Room 101
  
  
  
  

• Cost Effectiveness Analysis Under Stochastic Uncertainty - Part II

  Presented by the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Tuesday, February 21, 2012 : 12:00pm to 1:00pm 
  
  
  Location:
  University Park Campus, University Gateway (UGW), Schaeffer Center, Room 100B
  
  
  
  

• The Statistical Measurement of Accountability Concepts in American Governance

  Bedrosian Center Research Talk 
  
  
  Featured Presenter: 
  Anthony Bertelli, USC Price School of Public Policy 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Thursday, February 23, 2012 : 12:00pm to 1:30pm 
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL), Room 308
  
  
  
  

• Creating Catalysts: A Report on Black Philanthropy for Social Change

  USC Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy Nonprofit Research Seminar Series
  
  
  Featured Presenter(s): 
  Ange-Marie Hancock, Associate Professor of Political Science and Gender Studies 
  
  
  Dana David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Monday, February 27, 2012 : 12:00pm to 1:30pm 
  
  
  Location:
  University Park Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL), Room 308
  
  
  
  

• A Sustainable Funding and Financing Strategy for Urban Infrastructure Renewal in China

  Joint Seminar - USC Price School of Public Policy and METRANS Transportation Center  
  
  
  Featured Speaker: 
  Richard Little, Price School of Public Policy, USC 
  
  
  Date / Time:
  Wednesday, March 7, 2012 : 12:00pm to 1:30pm 
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL), Room 100
  
  
  
  

• USC Price Governance Salon featuring Elisabeth Gerber

  USC Price Governance Salon 
  
  
  Featured Presenter: 
  Elisabeth Gerber, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Wednesday, March 21, 2012 : 12:00pm to 1:30pm 
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL), Room 308
  
  
  
  

• Recurrent Governance Failures in Los Angeles County

  Bedrosian Center Research Talk 
  
  
  Featured Presenter: 
  Ricahrd Callahan, University of San Francisco 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Thursday, March 22, 2012 : 12:00pm to 1:30pm 
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL), Room 308
  
  
  
  

• Bridging Planning & Architecture

  Urban Growth Seminar Series - "The Future of Sustainable Cities: Planning, Policy, and Technology"
  
  
  Featured Presenter:
  Vinayak Bharne, Director of Design, Moule and Polyzoides Architects and Urbanists; 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Tuesday, April 3, 2012 : 12:15pm to 1:30pm 
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL), Room 101
  
  
  
  

• Protecting Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in 21st Century Los Angeles

  Featured Speaker: 
  Andre Birotte, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Tuesday, April 3, 2012 : 12:00pm to 1:30pm
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Doheny Memorial Library (DML), Intellectual Commons, DML 233
  
  
  
  

• Environmental and Health Impacts of Freight Transportation to and From the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles

  METRANS Seminar Series
  
  
  Featured  Speaker: 
  Dr. Stephen Ritchie, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Director, Institute for Transportation Studies UC Irvine
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Wednesday, April 4, 2012 : 12:00pm to 1:30pm 
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL), Room 100
  
  
  
  

• Leaders, Managers, or Analysts: Who Will Shape the Future?

  Judge Widney Distinguished Lecture 
  
  
  Featured Speaker: 
  Leonard D. Schaeffer, founding Chairman and CEO of WellPoint, the nation's largest health insurance company 
  
  
  Date / Time: 
  Tuesday, April 10, 2012 : 12:15pm to 1:15pm 
  
  
  Location: 
  University Park Campus, Doheny Memorial Library (DML), Intellectual Commons, DML 233