This dissertation examines the spatial pattern and density of fast food restaurants in the Detroit region, and uses the results of a travel survey to analyze what types of restaurants respondents travel to in an average week. These travel characteristics are explored relative to urban form and sociodemographics of the respondents. A primary contribution to the literature is the use of reported restaurant travel trips, as opposed to making assumptions based solely on proximity or density of nearby restaurants. The study area is the Detroit region, characterized by a wide range of socioeconomics, demographics, and urban forms in a relatively small geographic area. The study sites selected represent high- and low-density neighborhoods as well as areas of affluence and extreme poverty. The neighborhood study sites include two high-density, low-income neighborhoods in Detroit; two high-density, higher-income neighborhoods in Ann Arbor and Birmingham; and two low-density, high-income neighborhoods in Bloomfield Hills and West Bloomfield, for a total of six neighborhoods. Using data on the locations of licensed restaurants in the study region at the time of the survey (2007-08), fast food density was calculated in multiple ways, including per capita, per square mile, and per road mile. The results show that residents of the City of Detroit have a slightly higher exposure to fast food than suburban counterparts. More notable is that of all restaurants in a municipality, Detroit has a higher proportion that is fast food (22%), compared to 15% in the low-density suburbs and 13% in the high-density suburbs. Using 997 completed travel surveys, the analysis reveals stark differences in the types of restaurants visited by Detroit respondents compared to suburban respondents. The majority of all restaurant trips (77%) for Detroit respondents are to fast food establishments, compared to 22% in the low-density suburbs and 17% in the high-density suburbs. More than half (52%) of Detroit respondents report traveling to a fast food restaurant in an average week, compared to 16% in both the low-density and high-density suburbs. Thus, Detroiters are dining out to fast food about three times as often as their suburban counterparts, despite having only a slightly higher density and proportion of fast food restaurants. Additionally, higher-income respondents travel farther on average to dine out, and are less likely to travel to fast food. While there is little difference in characteristics relating to a likelihood to dine out to restaurants in general, there are significant differences when examining trips to fast food restaurants. One or more trips to fast food in an average week is related to a higher body mass index, fewer servings of vegetables, more servings of soft drinks, less vigorous exercise, and cigarette smoking. The connected street grid design, density, and mixed-use zoning that is often associated with good urban design, walkability, and better health outcomes can be found in the high-density study neighborhoods of urban Detroit and the suburbs of Ann Arbor and Birmingham. Yet despite similar urban form, the suburban communities are reporting a much lower prevalence of obesity, higher likelihood to engage in exercise, more ideal nutritional choices than Detroit. Further examination into these complex relationships is warranted in order to help alleviate the public health disparities we see around obesity and diet-related diseases.
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