Raja
Biographic Data
| ID | 15828 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Raja |
| FAMILY NAME | Raja |
| SIGNATURE | RAJA |
| AFFILIATIONS | University at Buffalo, State University of New York |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6251-2736 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 100 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Protocol for the process evaluation of a mobile produce market intervention to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in lower-income communities
Introduction: Mobile produce markets have become increasingly prevalent throughout the United States, highlighting the need for evidence-based models for markets to follow. The Veggie Van (VV) model is a set of practices that have been found to be efficacious in increasing fruit and vegetable intake in underserved communities. The next step in determining the model's effectiveness is evaluating the model when implemented on a broader scale under …
Mapping the invisible
This article makes visible the social network infrastructure of people sustaining the urban food system in the post-industrial city of Buffalo, NY. It does so by probing how networks are launched and sustained over time, who is responsible for the networks, and to what end. The authors employ a survey to collect data on social networks among actors within the city's food system. The findings suggest that Buffalo's urban food system is a constella…
Co-Constructing Knowledge and Space with Refugee Communities
Displaced peoples are often excluded from institutional, community, and public processes in the United States, including in knowledge production spaces where researchers and educators may discuss problems and devise solutions. In this article, we explore the benefits and challenges inherent in the co-construction of knowledge spaces designed with the intent of serving refugee communities. To do so, we examined the Western New York Refugee Health …
Wrestling with Context
International audience
Planning and Food Sovereignty in Conflict Cities
Problem, research strategy, and findings Protracted political conflicts disrupt people's lives, including their ability to feed themselves. Urban planning, operating within the ambit of the state, impacts food systems in conflict cities. We examine the confluence of planning and political misgovernance on food sovereignty in conflict cities. We do so by documenting the experiences of urban growers who cultivate, eat, and distribute indigenous gre…
A Novel Process to Recruit and Select Community Partners for a Hybrid Implementation-Effectiveness Study
An RFP process is familiar to many community organizations that compete for grant funding but may not have prior research experience. This process streamlined recruitment timelines, increased diversity, and cultivated community among organizations. It may also improve research transparency, study completion, and intervention fidelity
A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Research-Tested Mobile Produce Market Model Designed to Improve Diet in Under-Resourced Communities
Mobile produce markets are increasingly popular retail vendors used for providing access to fresh fruits and vegetables (F&V) in under-resourced communities; however, evaluation is limited due to design and implementation challenges. This protocol presents the original design of a randomized control trial aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the evidence-based Veggie Van (VV) mobile market model. Nine US community partner organizations were as…
Operational challenges that may affect implementation of evidence-based mobile market interventions
Common and persistent challenges ought to be addressed to ensure and enhance the positive public health impacts of mobile produce markets. Contextual factors, particularly organizational factors, that impact implementation should also be considered when implementing an evidence-based intervention at a mobile market. Further research is needed to determine which innovative solutions are the most effective in mitigating challenges, improving implem…
Acquisition, mobility and food insecurity
Objective: To investigate acquisition and mobility experiences of food-insecure individuals across urbanicity levels (i.e., urban, suburban, rural) in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Cross-sectional study using a nationally representative online panel to measure where food-insecure individuals acquired food, food acquisition barriers and mobility to food sources, which were evaluated across urbanicity levels using chi-squared t…
Planning for Regional Food Equity
Problem, research strategy, and findings Scholars in planning and public health have increasingly called attention to inequities in the food system. To evaluate and address these challenges, local and regional governments have developed and implemented a variety of plans over the last 2 decades. The role of regional food planning, however, remains understudied. Most assessments of plans, vis-à-vis food systems, fall short in gauging how plans add…
Planning and pandemics Covid 19 illuminates why urban planners should have listened to food advocates all along
Refuge in new food environments? The role of urban planning in facilitating food equity for new Americans
In the United States, resettled refugees arrive in designated resettlement cities where they can in theory start a new life with support systems in place. Although refugee resettlement agencies are the main point of contact upon arrival, agencies are mandated to work with refugees for 90 days. Traditionally, local governments have not had purposeful contact with resettled refugee populations, yet the policies they enact and built environments the…
Essential, fragile, and invisible community food infrastructure
Farming within a dual legal land system
Cooperative extension and food system change
Neighbourhood for Playing
Despite the documented importance of the neighbourhood environment on youth physical activity, little empirical research exists regarding the geographical boundaries of neighbourhoods within which youth are physically active around their homes. Studies and public policies often arbitrarily assume the extent of these boundaries, which vary from study to study. This paper combines GPS data, diaries and accelerometry to delineate empirically the loc…
Got perspective? A theoretical view of fiscal impact analysis
In what has been described as a magisterial account of planning, John Friedmann (1987: 36) took the task of planning theory to solve ‘the meta-theoretical problem of how to make technical knowledge in planning effective in informing public actions’. Failure to do so, he argued, would mean that ‘planners will end up talking only to themselves and eventually will become irrelevant’. In this essay we want to argue that despite significant advances i…
Food Environment, Built Environment, and Women’s BMI
The authors present the results of a neighborhood-scaled exploratory study that tests the association of the food environment and the built environment with women’s body mass index (BMI) in Erie County, New York. The proximity of women’s homes to a supermarket relative to a convenience store is associated with lower BMI. A diverse land use mix in a neighborhood is positively associated with women’s BMI, especially when restaurants dominate nonres…
Beyond Food Deserts
Given the emerging focus on improving food environments and food systems through planning, this article investigates racial disparities in neighborhood food environments. An empirical case of Erie County, New York tests the hypothesis that people belonging to different racial groups have access to different neighborhood food destinations. Using multiple methods—Gini coefficients and Poisson regression—we show that contrary to studies elsewhere in…
Association of access to parks and recreational facilities with the physical activity of young children
Amir Hamzah "Raja" Penyair Melayu
Beyond Food Deserts
Given the emerging focus on improving food environments and food systems through planning, this article investigates racial disparities in neighborhood food environments. An empirical case of Erie County, New York tests the hypothesis that people belonging to different racial groups have access to different neighborhood food destinations. Using multiple methods—Gini coefficients and Poisson regression—we show that contrary to studies elsewhere in…
Food Environment, Built Environment, and Women’s BMI
The authors present the results of a neighborhood-scaled exploratory study that tests the association of the food environment and the built environment with women’s body mass index (BMI) in Erie County, New York. The proximity of women’s homes to a supermarket relative to a convenience store is associated with lower BMI. A diverse land use mix in a neighborhood is positively associated with women’s BMI, especially when restaurants dominate nonres…
Essential, fragile, and invisible community food infrastructure
Neighbourhood for Playing
Despite the documented importance of the neighbourhood environment on youth physical activity, little empirical research exists regarding the geographical boundaries of neighbourhoods within which youth are physically active around their homes. Studies and public policies often arbitrarily assume the extent of these boundaries, which vary from study to study. This paper combines GPS data, diaries and accelerometry to delineate empirically the loc…
Planning and pandemics Covid 19 illuminates why urban planners should have listened to food advocates all along
Refuge in new food environments? The role of urban planning in facilitating food equity for new Americans
In the United States, resettled refugees arrive in designated resettlement cities where they can in theory start a new life with support systems in place. Although refugee resettlement agencies are the main point of contact upon arrival, agencies are mandated to work with refugees for 90 days. Traditionally, local governments have not had purposeful contact with resettled refugee populations, yet the policies they enact and built environments the…
Cooperative extension and food system change
Farming within a dual legal land system
Co-Constructing Knowledge and Space with Refugee Communities
Displaced peoples are often excluded from institutional, community, and public processes in the United States, including in knowledge production spaces where researchers and educators may discuss problems and devise solutions. In this article, we explore the benefits and challenges inherent in the co-construction of knowledge spaces designed with the intent of serving refugee communities. To do so, we examined the Western New York Refugee Health …
Amir Hamzah "Raja" Penyair Melayu
Association of access to parks and recreational facilities with the physical activity of young children
Beyond Food Deserts
Given the emerging focus on improving food environments and food systems through planning, this article investigates racial disparities in neighborhood food environments. An empirical case of Erie County, New York tests the hypothesis that people belonging to different racial groups have access to different neighborhood food destinations. Using multiple methods—Gini coefficients and Poisson regression—we show that contrary to studies elsewhere in…
Got perspective? A theoretical view of fiscal impact analysis
In what has been described as a magisterial account of planning, John Friedmann (1987: 36) took the task of planning theory to solve ‘the meta-theoretical problem of how to make technical knowledge in planning effective in informing public actions’. Failure to do so, he argued, would mean that ‘planners will end up talking only to themselves and eventually will become irrelevant’. In this essay we want to argue that despite significant advances i…
Food Environment, Built Environment, and Women’s BMI
The authors present the results of a neighborhood-scaled exploratory study that tests the association of the food environment and the built environment with women’s body mass index (BMI) in Erie County, New York. The proximity of women’s homes to a supermarket relative to a convenience store is associated with lower BMI. A diverse land use mix in a neighborhood is positively associated with women’s BMI, especially when restaurants dominate nonres…
Neighbourhood for Playing
Despite the documented importance of the neighbourhood environment on youth physical activity, little empirical research exists regarding the geographical boundaries of neighbourhoods within which youth are physically active around their homes. Studies and public policies often arbitrarily assume the extent of these boundaries, which vary from study to study. This paper combines GPS data, diaries and accelerometry to delineate empirically the loc…
Cooperative extension and food system change
Planning and pandemics Covid 19 illuminates why urban planners should have listened to food advocates all along
Refuge in new food environments? The role of urban planning in facilitating food equity for new Americans
In the United States, resettled refugees arrive in designated resettlement cities where they can in theory start a new life with support systems in place. Although refugee resettlement agencies are the main point of contact upon arrival, agencies are mandated to work with refugees for 90 days. Traditionally, local governments have not had purposeful contact with resettled refugee populations, yet the policies they enact and built environments the…
Essential, fragile, and invisible community food infrastructure
Farming within a dual legal land system
Planning for Regional Food Equity
Problem, research strategy, and findings Scholars in planning and public health have increasingly called attention to inequities in the food system. To evaluate and address these challenges, local and regional governments have developed and implemented a variety of plans over the last 2 decades. The role of regional food planning, however, remains understudied. Most assessments of plans, vis-à-vis food systems, fall short in gauging how plans add…
A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Research-Tested Mobile Produce Market Model Designed to Improve Diet in Under-Resourced Communities
Mobile produce markets are increasingly popular retail vendors used for providing access to fresh fruits and vegetables (F&V) in under-resourced communities; however, evaluation is limited due to design and implementation challenges. This protocol presents the original design of a randomized control trial aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the evidence-based Veggie Van (VV) mobile market model. Nine US community partner organizations were as…
Operational challenges that may affect implementation of evidence-based mobile market interventions
Common and persistent challenges ought to be addressed to ensure and enhance the positive public health impacts of mobile produce markets. Contextual factors, particularly organizational factors, that impact implementation should also be considered when implementing an evidence-based intervention at a mobile market. Further research is needed to determine which innovative solutions are the most effective in mitigating challenges, improving implem…
Acquisition, mobility and food insecurity
Objective: To investigate acquisition and mobility experiences of food-insecure individuals across urbanicity levels (i.e., urban, suburban, rural) in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Cross-sectional study using a nationally representative online panel to measure where food-insecure individuals acquired food, food acquisition barriers and mobility to food sources, which were evaluated across urbanicity levels using chi-squared t…
Wrestling with Context
International audience
Planning and Food Sovereignty in Conflict Cities
Problem, research strategy, and findings Protracted political conflicts disrupt people's lives, including their ability to feed themselves. Urban planning, operating within the ambit of the state, impacts food systems in conflict cities. We examine the confluence of planning and political misgovernance on food sovereignty in conflict cities. We do so by documenting the experiences of urban growers who cultivate, eat, and distribute indigenous gre…
A Novel Process to Recruit and Select Community Partners for a Hybrid Implementation-Effectiveness Study
An RFP process is familiar to many community organizations that compete for grant funding but may not have prior research experience. This process streamlined recruitment timelines, increased diversity, and cultivated community among organizations. It may also improve research transparency, study completion, and intervention fidelity
Mapping the invisible
This article makes visible the social network infrastructure of people sustaining the urban food system in the post-industrial city of Buffalo, NY. It does so by probing how networks are launched and sustained over time, who is responsible for the networks, and to what end. The authors employ a survey to collect data on social networks among actors within the city's food system. The findings suggest that Buffalo's urban food system is a constella…
Co-Constructing Knowledge and Space with Refugee Communities
Displaced peoples are often excluded from institutional, community, and public processes in the United States, including in knowledge production spaces where researchers and educators may discuss problems and devise solutions. In this article, we explore the benefits and challenges inherent in the co-construction of knowledge spaces designed with the intent of serving refugee communities. To do so, we examined the Western New York Refugee Health …
Protocol for the process evaluation of a mobile produce market intervention to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in lower-income communities
Introduction: Mobile produce markets have become increasingly prevalent throughout the United States, highlighting the need for evidence-based models for markets to follow. The Veggie Van (VV) model is a set of practices that have been found to be efficacious in increasing fruit and vegetable intake in underserved communities. The next step in determining the model's effectiveness is evaluating the model when implemented on a broader scale under …
Political science (13 works) · Geography (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Business (8 works) · Economics (8 works) · Food security (8 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet (7 works) · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability (7 works) · Food systems (6 works)