Health equity in place
The Place research theme looks at how where people live shapes their everyday lives, such as caring for others, learning, and working, and how this affects health over time.
The Place conceptual framework
Our framework explained
This framework shows how the places people live in can influence their health. We highlight the main factors involved, rather than include every possible influence, to provide a practical way to think about how place and health are connected.
Factors such as government policies, the healthcare system, economic conditions, and patterns of investment shape the environments people live in. This influences local areas and the opportunities available within them.
Physical environments factors (such as air quality, pollution, climate), material resources (such as housing, transport, job opportunities, access to food) and local services (such as education, healthcare, policing) all shape people’s lives and health outcomes.
Social environments play an important role, including how connected people feel to their communities, shared values and norms, levels of safety, and how areas are perceived or valued.
People’s own circumstances (such as age, gender, ethnicity, income, education, household, cultural background, current health) affects their experience of local environments. The same place can affect people in different ways depending on their situation.
Influencing factors are not fixed. They can change over the life course, and when people move between places, their experiences and opportunities may change too.
Health is shaped through many pathways, including people’s behaviours, and how their bodies and minds respond to their surroundings. These processes influence physical and mental health, which are closely connected.
Place topic areas
We are interested in how place contributes to unfair differences in health. How does where people live interact with factors like gender, ethnicity, and income? How does access to services, resources, and investment vary between areas?
Key areas of interest
- Care and support: including unpaid caring, childcare, and access to local services.
- Learning and development: including home life, schools, and what happens after compulsory education.
- Work and employment: including access to jobs, job quality, and local job opportunities.
- Place-based inequities: including how place links with gender, ethnicity, and income.
- Local environments and resources: including housing, transport, services, and community connections.
- Differences between places: including why some areas have worse health and fewer opportunities than others.
- Policies and practice: including how local and national decisions affect communities, and what actually makes a positive difference to people’s health and reduces inequities.
The Place theme team
If you’re interested in our work in the Place theme, feel free to get in touch.
Stephen Jivraj
Place Theme Co-Lead
Emily Murray
Place Theme Co-Lead
Katie Sarah Taylor
Place Theme Co-Lead katie.s.taylor@ucl.ac.uk
Yvonne Kelly
Place Theme Team Member y.kelly@ucl.ac.uk