Placescapes and the Geography of Embodiment: A new paradigm for understanding place and health across the lifecourse

BACKGROUND: The field of place-health research has grown rapidly in recent years. However, major conceptual and methodological challenges remain in defining “place”, characterizing place contexts, and measuring place—all of which have implications for place-health research, public health practice, and the design and implementation of place-based strategies. Of particular need is work capable of revealing: 1) spatially- and temporally-specific configurations of place-based exposures and opportunities, 2) perspectives and influences of place across generations and over the lifecourse, and 3) opportunities for action to address place exposures that adversely affect community health.

OBJECTIVE: Develop and field-test a place-health framework that: 1) accounts for the multi-nodal nature of “place” and its contingent spatial, temporal, and social inter-nodal connections/divisions; 2) elucidates and accounts for potential intergenerational and life-stage differences in place experiences/perceptions; and 3) explicitly engages the sociopolitical mechanisms/forces that make, unmake, and remake place over time—shaping spatiotemporal patterns and sociospatial arrangements of “place” exposures and opportunities.

APPROACH: A framework for a “placescape” approach was developed drawing from existent place-health, geography, and sociology literatures. This framework was then applied to an intergenerational CBPR/PAR study of place, embodiment, and health. Parent-child dyads were recruited from public housing and trained in 4 PAR methods: Photovoice, Activity Space Mapping, X-Ray Mapping, and Participatory GIS. Participants used this combination of methods to map their “placescapes” and their “geographies of embodiment”.

RESULTS: This presentation will introduce the “placescape” framework, discuss its theoretical/conceptual foundations and 7 core tenets in application, and discuss applications/implications for intergenerational place-health research/practice going forward.