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Yuning Feng 


Yuning is a recent dual-degree graduate of the Masters of Science in Urban Planning program and Masters of Public Health program at Columbia University, where she concentrated in Urban Analytics and Environmental Health Sciences.  She has a passion for climate change resiliency, sustainable community development, and environmental health and wellbeing. She is also interested in methdological approaches in data-driven decisions.    -> resume

/urban planning


01. Thesis: NYC’s Open Streets Program and Air Quality 

02. Access to Healthy Food in NYC

03. Community Needs and Environmental Justice

/public health


04. Capstone: Air Pollution in Sub-Saharan African Countries

05. Access to Open Space in NYC

/light hearted


06.Citizen Science: Urban Sensor and Urban Data Creation


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©2024
Yuning Feng

Yuning is a recent dual-degree graduate of the Masters of Science in Urban Planning program and Masters of Public Health program at Columbia University, where she concentrated in Urban Analytics and Environmental Health Sciences.  She has a passion for climate change resiliency, sustainable community development, and environmental health and wellbeing. She is also interested in methdological approaches in data-driven decisions. 

02.

Access to Healthy Food in New York City


2019, Urban Planning       
With Elaine Hsieh and Priska Marianne 
Tools: ArcGIS, Illustrator, Indesign
 While New York City’s economic growth continues to outpace the United States, 1.2 million of the city’s residents are food insecure, including 18 percent of all children and 10.9 percent of all seniors (Hunger Free America, 2018).  Food security is defined as having access to adequate food for all household members at all times for an active, healthy life (USDA, 2017). Food insecurity also increases the risk of obesity and diabetes (Gretchen Van Wye et al., 2008). More than half of adult New Yorkers are either overweight or obese. Depending on the neighborhood’s socioeconomic and geographic character, racial/ethnic make-ups, and sizes and types of immigrants, the negative health outcomes in some neighborhoods are more prevalent than in the others (Gretchen Van Wye et al., 2008).

One way that the government has been addressing food insecurity issue in New York City is through identifying food deserts or areas lacking fresh fruit, vegetables, and other options for whole foods, defined by the American Nutrition Association, are often found in low-income neighborhoods (Gordon et al., 2011). NYC Department of City Planning initiated the creation of the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program in 2009 to incentivize supermarket development through zoning requirements and financial benefits.

The objective of this study is to understand the effectiveness of the FRESH program.  Our investigation includes questioning the effectiveness of FRESH zone districts, identifying communities that are vulnerable to food insecurity, and assessing geographic access to supermarkets in vulnerable areas.