Health and wellbeing in urban South Africa: an overview

Massey, RT and Denoon-Stevens, SP ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7640-0970, 2022. Health and wellbeing in urban South Africa: an overview. South African Geographical Journal, 104 (3), pp. 271-275. ISSN 0373-6245

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Abstract

The health and wellbeing of residents in South Africa’s towns and cities are currently threatened by the burden of disease, high incidences of crime/violence, and increasing economic, social, and environmental inequality. The impact of past and present spatial exclusion has exacerbated high levels of poverty and ill health, and the rapid rise in urbanization has put further pressure on already strained urban systems. While significant progress has been made, poor levels of service delivery, neglected infrastructure, and a lack of social amenities continue to pose a challenge. A further concern has been the prioritization in policy and literature on the ‘hard’ traditional elements of health over ‘softer’ dimensions (wellbeing aspects). The field of medical geography in South Africa has also remained relatively peripheral, with most geographical and human settlement research on health being driven by public-health scholars. This special issue brings together the voices of researchers working on health and wellbeing in South Africa’s urban spaces to address these and other concerns. Several key findings have emerged including the need for governance models that focus on overall wellbeing, the importance of interdisciplinary approaches, the role that wider socio-economic context and history play, and the importance of access to open space.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	South African Geographical Journal
Creators:	Massey, R.T. and Denoon-Stevens, S.P.
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Date:	2022
Volume:	104
Number:	3
ISSN:	0373-6245
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/03736245.2022.2097944 DOI 1748525 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	04 May 2023 15:02
Last Modified:	04 May 2023 15:02
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/48870

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