Routledge Handbook of Health Geography

Book excerpt: The places of our daily life affect our health, well-being, and receipt of health care in complex ways. The connection between health and place has been acknowledged for centuries, and the contemporary discipline of health geography sets as its core mission to uncover and explicate all facets of this connection. The Routledge Handbook of Health Geography features 52 chapters from leading international thinkers that collectively characterize the breadth and depth of current thinking on the health–place connection. It will be of interest to students seeking an introduction to health geography as well as multidisciplinary health scholars looking to explore the intersection between health and place. This book provides a coherent synthesis of scholarship in health geography as well as multidisciplinary insights into cutting-edge research. It explores the key concepts central to appreciating the ways in which place influences our health, from the micro-space of the body to the macro-scale of entire world regions, in order to articulate historical and contemporary aspects of this influence.