Wet markets play an important role in urban food security in many Asian countries. Although the American Planning Association (APA) proposed that food planning should focus on the business status and potential of food retailing, existing research pays more attention to the food accessibility of urban residents and limited research has been conducted on the profit of wet market vendors and factors determining its spatial variations. Therefore, based on the survey data of 1,119 small food enterprises in Nanjing, this study employs the spatial analytical method Geodetector to explore the spatial differentiation of the vendor’s profit and its determinants. The results show an obvious spatial variation of the profit of wet market vendors in Nanjing. In addition, the study generates four other major findings. Firstly, the profit is mainly influenced by the demographic features of vendors, their business expenses and payment schemes. It is also affected by socioeconomic factors such as the GDP, income level, number of metro stations and residential neighbourhoods, as well as the “location entropy” level of the district where the business is located. In comparison, the features of vendors have a more significant impact on business profit than socio-economic factors. Secondly, we also identified strong mutual enhancement effects among these factors. Thirdly, almost all determinants have greater impacts on the profit in peri-urban areas than those in urban areas. Therefore, there will be a greater potential for the increase of vendors’ profit in peri-urban areas compared to their urban counterparts. Finally, based on the analysis of the determinants affecting vendors’ profit, policy recommendations are proposed for urban food planning to foster urban and peri-urban inclusive growth.
About the speaker
Xinxian Qi is a Doctoral Candidate at Nanjing University and a Queen Elizabeth Scholar-AS Visiting Researcher at the Hungry Cities Partnership and Wilfrid Laurier University.
This seminar is sponsored by the Hungry Cities Partnership and the Queen Elizabeth Advanced Scholarship Program.
