Place in health, illness, and healthcare

Human experience of health and illness takes place in both a bodily and locational sense. In other words it occurs in a particular time and location, as well as occupies or makes a place: in a system or hierarchy as well as in particular sites. This chapter critically reviews a range of ways in which the concept of “place” has been considered and included within studies of health and illness. Particular attention is granted to changing views of place within geography, the concept’s disciplinary “home”. Drawing on examples ranging from clinic waiting rooms to health-promoting postage stamps, the chapter argues that the “where-ness” of place is necessary, but not sufficient. Rather, and in addition to locational considerations, the connections to identity and felt place-in-the-world are indelibly etched into the experience of health and illness.