The Creative Healthy Neighbourhoods study was part of a wider Arts Council England funded project (‘ACE People and Places’) where five partner organisations delivered a ‘creative health’ arts programme for residents in two disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Medway (Kent) – Brompton and Luton.
You can find the final research report of the Creative Healthy Neighbourhoods Project here.
In relation to place and health, ‘ecological’ and population approaches have long pointed to the importance of social and community networks, as well as wider living and working conditions, and broader structural factors as key determinants of health (Dahlgren and Whitehead, 2021).
Creative health practices can contribute in a number of ways to overcoming place-based health inequalities, including: mapping and uncovering assets and barriers to health, giving voice and community power around local health issues, challenging representation and stigma around place, actively building community and residents’ connections with place, as well as more directly tackling social isolation, and mental and physical health and wellbeing.
This research project adopted participatory and creative approaches to assess the contribution of the arts programmes as well as a wider mapping exercise to draw together emerging issues and evidence and build a picture of health needs, assets and barriers in Brompton and Luton.
The research questions were:
- How do residents in the neighbourhoods feel about health and place in their communities, and how is this changing with the creative health programmes?
- How can the project leave a legacy of skills, capacity and partnerships in each neighbourhood and beyond for further action and research?
- How can the project provide learning for similar neighbourhood participatory health research?
You can also read about our previous research study Stories of Luton Road.