Tobacco Town
Overview
When the Tobacco Town project started in 2013, CPHSS and partners from Brookings Institution, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, and Stanford Prevention Research Center used agent-based modeling to examine interplay between built and consumer environments for tobacco and patterns of purchasing and use.
The three-year project examined the best way to reduce density of tobacco retailers in U.S. cities. Using data from representative American cities and suburbs, we built an agent-based model that simulated how different types of policies could 1) reduce tobacco retailer density and 2) increase cost and difficulty of obtaining cigarettes. Results showed policies affect different contexts (urban or suburban, wealthy or low-income) in different ways.
As a continuation of the work, our team worked with New York City and then ClearWay Minnesota and the Public Health Law Center to estimate impacts of various tobacco retail policies on retailer densities, consumer costs, and cessation rates for priority populations in communities in Minnesota.
Currently this work continues as one of three research projects of the NCI-funded ASPiRE Center. Researchers from the Brookings Institution, Washington University in St. Louis, and UNC are refining the agent-based models to simulate retail tobacco policy impacts in the 30 big cities represented in the ASPiRE Community Advisory Board. The latest iterations include more realistic geography, synthetic populations based on US Census data, and policies that affect both the built environment for retail tobacco (e.g., tobacco retailer density and resident-to retailer proximity) and the availability and accessibility of specific tobacco products. The goals of ASPiRE Tobacco Town include not only simulating various local-level interventions but developing translational products for policymakers and their intermediaries to highlight the importance of context and increase the use of research evidence in policy development.
Methods or Strategies Used
Project Publications
Development of a computational modeling laboratory for examining tobacco control policies: Tobacco Town
Hammond, R.A., Combs, T.B., Mack-Crane, A., Kasman, M., Sorg, A., Snider, D., & Luke, D.A. (2019). Health & Place.
Modelling the impact of menthol sales restrictions and retailer density reduction policies: insights from tobacco town Minnesota
Combs, T.B., McKay, V.R., Ornstein, J., Mahoney, M., Cork, K., Brosi, D., Kasman, M., Heuberger, B., Hammond, R.A., & Luke, D.A. (2019). Tobacco Control, 0:1-8.
Tobacco Town: Comparing Retail-Focused Tobacco Policy Impacts Across Contexts Through Computational Modeling
2017, Todd Combs, National Conference on Tobacco or Health
Tobacco Town: Computational Modeling of Policy Options to Reduce Tobacco Retailer Density
Luke, D.A., Hammond, R.A., Combs, T., et al. (2017). Am J Public Health. 107(5): 740-746.
Tobacco Town: Modeling the Effects of Tobacco Retailer Reduction
2015, Douglas Luke, State and Community Tobacco Control Research Conference