This study redefines food deserts as a structural symptom of rural decline—driven by aging, community disintegration, and the breakdown of food supply chains—rather than merely a lack of distribution networks. It argues that solving this issue req...
This study redefines food deserts as a structural symptom of rural decline—driven by aging, community disintegration, and the breakdown of food supply chains—rather than merely a lack of distribution networks. It argues that solving this issue requires a multi-pronged and phased strategy supported by institutional design. Based on prior research, the study categorizes response strategies into short, medium, and long term phases: mobile services and voucher programs for immediate response; cooperative-based public distribution and digital spatial diagnostics for building local systems; and urban-rural linkages, spatial reorganization, and legal institutionalization for long term transformation. Each phase demands different stakeholders and resource mobilization, emphasizing the need for integrated policy coordination.<BR/>In addition, this study examines key institutional frameworks such as the Framework Act on Agriculture, Rural Community and Food Industry and the Act on Rural Space Reorganization and Regeneration. While both laws provide important legal foundations, neither directly defines or targets the food desert phenomenon. Therefore, this study emphasizes the need to explicitly incorporate food accessibility into law and policy, establish region-specific diagnostic criteria, and develop tailored supply strategies that can be embedded within spatial and welfare planning.