Environment and Health: Place, Sense of Place and Weight Gain in Urban Areas

Questions about the interrelationships between the socioeconomic environment of a neighbourhood, its physical characteristics and the health status of its inhabitants have been attracting interest in recent years from researchers in both the academic and political sphere. Today, there is a strong body of evidence linking population health and quality of life to the social and physical settings in which people caring out their daily activities (Young et al. 2004). Mortality, respiratory and coronary heart diseases, depression and other mental conditions, obesity, and general health status, as well as health-related behaviours (tobacco consumption, diet, physical activity) has been consistently related with the local environment (Diez-Roux et al. 2001; Lochner et al. 2003; Van Lenthe et al. 2005; Veenstra et al. 2005; Nogueira 2006; Day 2007).