Public Markets

Markets and Public Health

Public Markets and Community Health: An Examination (2006)

From obesity and diabetes to heart and lung diseases, a number of serious health issues around the country are hitting marginalized and disadvantaged populations in increasingly disproportionate numbers. Aside from the devastating impacts these diseases have on individuals, they also strain the overall well-being of a community's residents and act as a hindrance on economic stability and civic participation.

At the same time, researchers are beginning to recognize the important role that farmers markets and public markets can play in alleviating these health concerns. At the most basic level, markets can improve communities' access to fresh fruits and vegetables and serve as a public gathering place that helps build social capital. Recently, though, markets have been addressing health issues in broader ways, from providing health information and links to critical health-related services; to serving as social and economic outlets for community gardeners; to initiating youth education and empowerment; and to facilitating the job creation and training goals of community development corporations. In this way, markets can serve as the agent within a larger community network for economic revitalization, upward mobility, individual empowerment and social integration in "shifting sands" communities, sustainable local food systems, and the strengthening of urban/rural linkages. Markets can also be neighborhood destinations and public gathering places where community members engage in collective civic action.

Thus far however, the potential influence of markets on public health has been neither fully recognized, nor realized. Given that, this research project, commissioned by PPS and the Ford Foundation over the summer of 2006, asks:

  • How can markets influence the health challenges of the twenty-first century, such as obesity and diabetes? Can they play a role in overcoming some of the "social determinants" of health (e.g. income inequality, civic disengagement, unemployment, early childhood care, education, food security, housing, etc.)?
  • How can public health institutions help markets realize the "double bottom-line" of market profitability and community health? That is, how can the field of public health build markets’ capacity to address these serious issues, while simultaneously running a financially sustainable enterprise?

Read the full report.


For the Health of It

Farmers markets boost the prospects of low-income communities with fresh, wholesome food.


Healthy Food, Healthy Communities: Improving Access and Opportunities Through Food Retailing

Fall 2005


Markets and Hospitals