ABSTRACT
The ways in which environmental factors influence health have been studied extensively in geography, anthropology, psychology, epidemiology and a wide range of other disciplines (Williams 1998; Mitchell et al. 2000; Williams 2002; Frumpkin 2003; Altschuler et al. 2004; Fletcher 2006). Environment can be examined on many levels, from the micro-environment of the home or community through to the national or global sphere. The impact that place can play as a health care setting – that is, the care environment – for individuals who are unwell, as well as their caregivers, has been examined, as well as the health effects that a home environment can have for both healthy and unwell individuals (Ulrich 1984; Dunn 2002; Williams 2002; Rioux 2005). Looking more broadly than an individual home or other physical structure, neighbourhood characteristics and attributes have also been examined with respect to the role they play in affecting health (Mitchell et al. 2000; Luginaah et al. 2001; Dunn 2002; Wells 2005; Wilson 2007).
