Intergenerational Photovoice Perspectives of Place + Health in Public Housing

Participatory Coding, Theming, and Mapping in/of the ‘Structure Struggle’

Health & Place (2019)

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Abstract

This paper details an intergenerational photovoice project exploring spatial and perceptual differences of “place” and health among adult and youth public housing residents in a small urban rustbelt city in the Midwestern United States. It specifically highlights the value of fully participatory photovoice processes—participatory narrative-coding and digital web-based photo-mapping—in furthering conceptual and analytical understanding of “place” and health. Results indicate the critical import of accounting for non-residential locations (i.e. activity spaces), and the significance of engaging the generationally- and spatially-specific social and physical landscapes of residents’ lived “place” to improve health opportunities within place-based strategies involving public housing.