Housing & Environment
In this theme, we aim to explore how housing and environmental factors can impact people’s wellbeing.
By investigating the factors affecting the fabric of our communities, such as access to affordable housing, analysing the level of warmth each house retains, the facilities within each community to allow residents to choose how to commute to work and are strategies to reduce violence and promote safer communities being successful, resulting in improving the lives of people living in the UK.
Lead: Professor Nick Bailey, University of Glasgow and Professor Chris Dibben, University of Edinburgh
The theme aligns with Scottish Government commitments on the climate and if policy on social housing and tenant rights are causing housing emergencies and homelessness, including net zero targets and adaptation planning. It also analyses the success of work on transport and place-based policy, including evaluation of initiatives such as the Young Persons' Free Bus Travel Scheme.
Our Researchers will explore:
- the effects of interventions such as home energy improvements, clean heating and schemes like Warmer Homes, as well as outcomes for different population groups. We will also work with Scottish Local Authorities to understand critical antecedent events in people’s pathways into homelessness (including causal AI approaches).
- how different factors can impact on people’s lives and health in Scotland: from where people grow up, to the activities they engage in as young people, and how and where they commute.
Our researchers will use a variety of linked datasets – including the Annual energy consumption data for properties in Scotland and the Home Energy Efficiency Database (HEED). With additional datasets enabling further opportunities for research, including our existing datasets that can support analysis of household emissions, energy efficiency and the wider impacts of housing conditions on health and wellbeing.
Overall, this theme strengthens the evidence base for policies that improve living conditions, environmental sustainability and community wellbeing.
Our research in this strategic impact programme will provide evidence in support of Scotland’s Fairer, healthier Scotland strategic framework for action, and will provide information in line with the needs of Scotland’s new public health landscape. The outcomes of this research will provide evidence to support plans and strategies to promote healthy and active life for individuals and communities.
