Overview
- Rigorously examines the utility of complex systems theory to the study of place and health
- Synthesizes the latest cutting-edge methods in the "complexities of place" literature into a cohesive methodological framework
- Introduces the Definitional Test of Complex Systems (DTCS) and the SACS Toolkit as frameworks for studying places and their health as complex systems
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Public Health (BRIEFSPUBLIC)
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About this book
The history of public health has focused on direct relationships between problems and solutions: vaccinations against diseases, ad campaigns targeting risky behaviors. But the accelerating pace and mounting intricacies of our lives are challenging the field to find new scientific methods for studying community health. The complexities of place (COP) approach is emerging as one such promising method.
Place and Health as Complex Systems demonstrates how COP works, making an empirical case for its use in for designing and implementing interventions. This brief resource reviews the defining characteristics of places as dynamic and evolving social systems, rigorously testing them as well as the COP approach itself. The study, of twenty communities within one county in the Midwest, combines case-based methods and complexity science to determine whether COP improves upon traditional statistical methods of public health research. Its conclusions reveal strengths and limitations of the approach, immediate possibilities for its use, and challenges regarding future research. Included in the coverage:
- Characteristics of places and the complexities of place approach.
- The Definitional Test of Complex Systems.
- Case-based modeling using the SACS toolkit.
- Methods, maps, and measures used in the study.
- Places as nodes within larger networks.
- Places as power-based conflicted negotiations.
Place and Health as Complex Systems brings COP into greater prominence in public health research, and is also valuable to researchers in related fields such asdemography, health geography, community health, urban planning, and epidemiology.
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Keywords
Table of contents (14 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Place and Health as Complex Systems
Book Subtitle: A Case Study and Empirical Test
Authors: Brian Castellani, Rajeev Rajaram, J. Galen Buckwalter, Michael Ball, Frederic Hafferty
Series Title: SpringerBriefs in Public Health
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09734-3
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Medicine, Medicine (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2015
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-09733-6Published: 20 March 2015
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-09734-3Published: 24 February 2015
Series ISSN: 2192-3698
Series E-ISSN: 2192-3701
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 82
Number of Illustrations: 8 b/w illustrations
Topics: Public Health, Complexity, Complex Systems, Human Geography, Statistical Physics and Dynamical Systems