The objective was to understand the link between housing, health and quality of life in a context of social housing regeneration, through the experiences and perceptions of its inhabitants, exploring the mechanisms that sustain this link before regeneration, and those elements derived from housing regeneration that result in improvements in quality of life and potentially in health. Between 1980 and the 2000s, Chile faced a massive quantitative housing deficit through a policy that delivered more than 120,000 low-cost social housing apartments. Today, thousands present severe habitability problems, generating negative consequences for their inhabitants, their health and well-being.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article describes the design and characteristics of a questionnaire and an intradomiciliary observation tool developed to assess the housing-neighborhood-health relationship both cross-sectionally and longitudinally in the context of urban transformations carried out in populations of high socio-territorial vulnerability. The instruments were developed for the multi-method longitudinal study RUCAS (Urban Regeneration, Quality of Life and Health), a natural experiment aiming to assess the quality of life and health impact of a comprehensive Urban Regeneration Program in two social housing complexes in Chile. The design of the instruments followed four main stages: (1) narrative review of the literature to define the dimensions of the study, and of existing measurement instruments to identify appropriate items for measuring them; (2) content validation with experts; (3) pre-test; and (4) pilot study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The available evidence of the health effects of urban regeneration is scarce In Latin America, and there are no studies focused on formal housing that longitudinally evaluate the impact of housing and neighborhood interventions on health. The "Regeneración Urbana, Calidad de Vida y Salud" (Urban Regeneration, Quality of Life, and Health) or RUCAS project is a longitudinal, multi-method study that will evaluate the impact of an intervention focused on dwellings, built environment and community on the health and wellbeing of the population in two social housing neighborhoods in Chile.
Methods: RUCAS consists of a longitudinal study where inhabitants exposed and unexposed to the intervention will be compared over time within the study neighborhoods (cohorts), capitalizing on interventions as a natural experiment.
Rapid urbanization in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) is associated with increasing population living in informal settlements. Inadequate infrastructure and disenfranchisement in settlements can create environments hazardous to health. Placed-based physical environment upgrading interventions have potential to improve environmental and economic conditions linked to health outcomes.
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