ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the control and manipulation of research and the power over knowledge that goes with it. The control over research exercised by various agencies and the consequences of that control for research in the healthy city is a key problem in bridging the gap between the aims and intentions of the Healthy Cities movement and its practice. In this context, ownership is a particularly significant force at the beginning and end of the research process. Once research has been completed, ownership influences what is done with the results. It is important to understand these issues of control and power in a community setting if ways are to be found of redressing the imbalance between the funders, users and practitioners of research and the communities being studied. Researchers and their funders also have power over the findings of research studies.
