US Census population estimates show that every state in the Western US reported significant population growth increases over the past two decades. Furthermore, Western population growth represents one of the largest and most significant US demographic trends in recent decades. For many Western US communities, this increase in population growth has resulted in significant changes to its residents’ day-to-day lived experience. Dramatic population growth can change the types of services available, economic opportunities, and perceived satisfaction of communities. This change in the lived experience of a community is perhaps most pronounced when small rural communities undergo a rapid increase in population size. To that end, we present a socio-historical narrative case study examining how population growth-historical and contemporary-has shaped residents’ lived experience in two neighboring population centers in the modern rural West: Utah’s Heber Valley and Park City, Utah.
Due to the increasing number of events around the world, event sustainability is an area of research relevant across disciplines. Research has found that event sustainability encompasses economic, environmental, and social legacies. However, events may face unforeseen challenges, sometimes even major scandals. How do these scandals impact residents and the sustainable legacy of the mega-event? As a historical case study, we explore social aspects of event sustainability in the wake of the 2002 Winter Olympics bid scandal, where it was reported that the Salt Lake Olympic Committee (SLOC) bribed members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to secure votes in favor of Salt Lake City hosting the 2002 Winter Olympic. Despite the bribery scandal, the Salt Lake City Games were considered a success by the media and members of the SLOC and IOC. Specifically, the present study investigates local residents’ perceptions of the scandal before, during, and after the Olympics using data gathered from 1999 to 2018 in Heber Valley, Utah. We find that time is a significant predictor of residents’ feelings toward the scandal. Further, feelings towards the Olympics, community desirability, race, and biological sex are also significant predictors. These findings lead us to conclude that the effects of the scandal on the Olympics’ sustainable legacy fade away over time.
Rising rates of hunger and food insecurity have sparked a major re-evaluation of all aspects of food systems. Because of the multifaceted nature of food insecurity, however, determining what actions should be taken is challenging, especially since reevaluation efforts are led by experts from several disciplines and there is no consensus about which indicators should be used and how they should be measured. Confusion surrounding the meaning of the terms ‘food security’ and ‘food insecurity’ has contributed to this lack of consensus. As indicators inform action, such confusion has slowed those committed to alleviating hunger in identifying the most pressing targets. This review highlights (1) the importance of clearly defining food security and food insecurity and (2) how such definitions affect measures of food insecurity in the United States. While some might say that definitions are an issue of the past or a trivial matter of semantics, we believe that the world’s present rates of hunger and malnutrition are attributable, at least in part, to the lack of consensus on these definitions and their accompanying measurements and indicators. Although the present review can be helpful to academics and policy makers, the primary purpose is to be a resource to those involved in the day-to-day production of food, such as ranchers and farmers by providing an overview of definitions, indicators, and measurements used when discussing food security.
Utah’s Heber Valley has experienced rapid and (relatively) sustained growth since the 1990s, in part due to being chosen as a host venue for the 2002 Winter Olympics. As conditions in the Valley changed by virtue of this growth, individuals had to redefine their relationship with their community at large, as well as what community means to them individually. As individuals integrate new conditions into their imagined communities, they are also required to imagine communities in ways they never have before. The community’s story is rewritten simultaneously along with individuals’ own stories. These changing stories are shaped and indicated by the reconstruction of residents’ narratives about their community, i.e., their community stories. In this paper, we (1) explore how Heber Valley residents’ narratives change as a result of preparing for, participating in, and recovering from the Olympics, (2) verify these findings using survey data gathered during the same time period, and (3) examine how changes in residents’ narratives in Heber Valley impacted the subjective evaluation of community. To do so, we rely on longitudinal data gathered among principal communities in Heber Valley with additional data generated from a hermeneutic content analysis of archival data found in the area’s community newspaper (The Wasatch Wave). Survey data were gathered once a year over a five-year period from February 1999 through February 2003, with additional waves gathered in February 2007, 2012, and 2018. Our results indicated that the community narratives did change as a result of the Olympics, our survey data verified these community changes over time, and changes in residents’ community stories impacted survey responses when residents were asked about community sentiments.
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