Understanding and responding to place-based disadvantage: insights from the Victorian Neighbourhood Renewal strategy

As part of the State Government's Neighbourhood Revewal strategy which has been implemented in 19 of Victoria's most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, local peer-researchers undertake biannual surveys of 300 residents at each site. The surveys collect a range of quantitative and qualitative data which are used to evaluate the progress of the strategy and to build improved theoretical understanding of associations between place and health. Deborah Warr (University of Melbourne) is a university based partner guiding and supporting the community survey process in five Neighbourhood Renewal sites, and a partner investigator on a research project that investigated the health impacts of Neighbourhood Renewal. In this presentation she will discuss findings from a series of analyses that shed important light on relationships between place and health. Issues including factors influencing the spatial patterning of socio-conomic disadvantage and ill-health; associations between neighbourhood environments and self-reported health; and problems of neighbourhood stigma. She will also reflect on the benefits and challenges of the participatory method adopted to conduct the community surveys