ABSTRACT
There is a long and rich tradition of investigating the spatial patterning of health events and disease outcomes, stretching back at least as far as the nineteenth century. Such investigations have used classical tools of visualisation, as well as methods of data exploration and modelling drawn from the statistical and epidemiological sciences. Paralleling such studies in geographical and environmental epidemiology have been others, set less within a natural science paradigm and more within a social science context, that have involved a study of health variations and inequalities, not only in terms of health outcomes but also in terms of access to, and the provision of, services. What both areas of research have in common is the recognition that space and place ‘make a difference’.
