Conclusions. Creating Social Capital: the Key Role of Public Policies and Services

This book describes and examines, with a qualitative and quantitative approach, the relationships between the constructed environment, health and social vulnerability. It demonstrates that spatial disintegration is quite often intertwined with health and social inequalities; therefore, it is crucial to adopt a methodology of multidisciplinary approach to urban health, in order to investigate the inequalities in healthcare and medical assistance through the analysis of psycho-social– environmental processes and the impact that these aspects can produce on objective and perceived health. The territorial insecurity is a local translation of complex phenomena regarding social ‘mobility’ (migration, economic crisis and development, restructuring of physical environments, increase in population), a clear reflection of the concept of urban divides where intra-metropolitan duality produces areas that have high levels of quality of life and areas characterized by poverty and spatial segregation. The first are the urban territories that, due to their characteristics, are capable of intercepting the opportunities of the global market; the latter are less attractive areas for investments, trade and tourism that consequently find themselves on the outskirts of society. Empirical relationships have been observed between urban environment, social vulnerability and health in different contexts; however, we are still scarcely equipped with standardized tools that allow for a clear understanding of the phenomenon of how health inequalities and daily life are generated. In order to face this issue, a national network of active research groups has been created to draft and develop a prototypical analysis infrastructure. This tool will facilitate empirical studies aimed at adequately grasping the complexity of the relationships between health disparities, socio-environmental and economic distress, as well as personal and collective health. Given the interest in achieving meaningful, fair and lasting solutions to the conflict and the reduction of health inequalities, the current lack of an analytical system suggests the need for new multidisciplinary approaches, oriented towards the quality of life within a eco-social model of health. This book v mainly addresses researchers and those working in local and government social care, healthcare and administrative institutions. Researchers will particularly benefit from the overall vision and the methodological approach explicated in this work, while those working in these institutions could gain important understanding of good practices as well as the sharing of their experiences in urban contexts.