There has been long standing interest in place-based factors shaping health and wellbeing, in social and spatial determinants of health inequalities, and in mobilising community based solutions to ill-health.
We bring together multiple social, psychological, medical, lifestyle and environmental dimensions to understand disease prevalence, and conversely, the living conditions which enable people to thrive. Systems, complexity and relational approaches to public health are growing in influence, and there is an increasing interest in the legacies of discrimination and marginalisation on shaping the health of communities.
We focus, therefore in a holistic sense on the conditions, activities, resources and capacities of specific social groups to secure good health and wellbeing.
We explore activities including health promotion, preventative action, protection and interventions. How can communities organise to shape mental and physical health, what is the role of the voluntary and community sector in addressing inequalities in community health and wellbeing, and what settings, spaces and places can support good health?