Annual Conference November 2008

Institute for Environment, Sustainability and Regeneration and the Centre for Sport and Exercise Research, Staffordshire University

ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2008

Environment, Well Being and Healthy Lifestyle

Full programme

The Government White Paper "Choosing Health" signalled a change in policy emphasis from treatment to prevention of ill health.

More recently the Foresight Report and NICE guidelines have reinforced the importance of the environment as a key determinant of health and well-being.

Best practice for designing neighbourhoods and green spaces to improve health is currently evolving. However tools and interventions to address this issue are still in the early stages of development. This inter-disciplinary conference addressed a number of related questions:

How do environments impact upon the well-being of a population?
How should we design active environments that encourage healthy activity such as walking and cycling?
What types of green space support healthy lifestyles?
What are the best interventions to encourage healthy living in different communities?
What are the best interventions to encourage healthy living in different communities?
What are the most effective tools to investigate neighbourhoods and their environments?

The conference was structured around three primary themes:

Healthy Living and the Environment: including the relationships between lifestyle and the built environment; lifestyle and the psycho-social environment; planning and policy approaches; and interventions that encourage physical activity.
Natural Environments and Green Space: including explorations of the relationships between green space, health and lifestyle; and the development and promotion of green space as a lifestyle resource.
Methodologies for Understanding Environment, Well-Being and Lifestyle:including innovative methods of measurement of environment, health and lifestyle attributes; the use of GIS in lifestyle research; and the role of auditing tools

The conference brought together a wide range of professional groups with concerns for the relationships between the environment, well-being and lifestyles, including academics;local government officers with responsibilities in sectors such as housing, planning, recreation and transport; representatives of the voluntary sector (e.g. Groundwork); the health sector (e.g. PCTs, health authorities); and public authorities (e.g. CABE, Natural England).

Conference Details

The conference was held on the 19th November 2008 and was located at the Best Western Stoke-on-Trent Moat House, Festival Park, Stoke-on-Trent.

Click here for the conference presentations.

Conference Administrator: Christine Dover 01782 294110 c.j.dover@staffs.ac.uk

Conference Sponsors


Renew North Staffordshire	Natural England	NSRP	NHS Stoke-on-Trent
Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Management of Environmental Quality		Health Education