Where people live matters to their health. Health improvement strategies often target where people live, but do they work? Placing health tackles this question through an examination of England's Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy and its health targets. It evaluates the evidence base for the strategy, compares experiences from the United States and elsewhere in Europe, and illustrates the relevance of complexity theory to area-based health improvement work. The book brings together these topical issues with a social science analysis of current programmes based on the methods and concepts of complexity thinking. It concludes by setting out how local action based on these ideas offers a new approach to area-based health improvement work. Placing health is aimed at researchers, academics and students in the social and health sciences with an interest in area-based health improvement work, as well as practitioners in health services, local government and voluntary agencies working on neighbourhood renewal and health projects.

"Urban Policy in Practice" is a detailed, up-to-date account of urban policy in Britain. With a focus on local government, it combines a study of policy in practice with a critical assessment of recent developments. Using a wide range of examples, Tim Blackman shows how policies and services are responding to today's urban problems, stressing in particular the need for corporate strategies, democratic control and sustainable development.
The opening chapter discusses urban policy as a framework for allocating resources to meet needs. How to define "need" and how to assess it are the major themes of the book. Subsequent chapters explore how policy is put into practice using objective setting, performance indicators and evaluations of its effects. The book includes a clear and detailed study of local government finance and an analysis of the growing role of research in urban policy and public administration.

"Urban Policy in Practice" is a detailed, up-to-date account of urban policy in Britain. With a focus on local government, it combines a study of policy in practice with a critical assessment of recent developments. Using a wide range of examples, Tim Blackman shows how policies and services are responding to today's urban problems, stressing in particular the need for corporate strategies, democratic control and sustainable development.
The opening chapter discusses urban policy as a framework for allocating resources to meet needs. How to define "need" and how to assess it are the major themes of the book. Subsequent chapters explore how policy is put into practice using objective setting, performance indicators and evaluations of its effects. The book includes a clear and detailed study of local government finance and an analysis of the growing role of research in urban policy and public administration.

New public health governance arrangements under the coalition government have wide reaching implications for the delivery of health inequality interventions. Through the framework of understanding health inequalities as a 'wicked problem' the book develops an applied approach to researching, understanding and addressing these by drawing on complexity theory. Case studies illuminate the text, illustrating and discussing the issues in real life terms and enabling public health, health promotion and health policy students at postgraduate level to fully understand and address the complexities of health inequalities. The book is a valuable resource on current UK public health practice for academics, researchers and public health practitioners.