Being Active As a Route to Health and Happiness:

A key feature of what has been called the epidemiological transition is that a fundamental shift occurs in mortality and disease patterns whereby pandemics of infection are gradually displaced by degenerative and avoidable diseases as the chief form of morbidity and primary cause of death.  One of the consequences of recognizing such a transition is that the health policies of rich nations have incorporated a concern to promote ‘healthy lifestyles’ and a personal sense of ‘wellbeing’ with the ultimate aim of reducing mortality and morbidity rates across the life-course.

One component of a healthy lifestyle is said to consist of sustained physical activity for at least 150 minutes every week, but according to the WHO only around 1/3 of people in Europe achieve this; the reasons why are numerous and complex. In this paper we explore lay thinking about what ‘activity’ is and what might promote activity rates using qualitative data gathered from 113 people in 14 focus group discussions. The data were collected in the course of researching the use and potential use of a linear park designed for an inner city area stretching across a range of deprived and affluent neighborhoods in Belfast (Northern Ireland) - see; http://www.communitygreenway.co.uk/.  Using novel methods of data analysis that focus on semantic networks and how ‘things’ are connected, we explore lay views about the use of the park as a ‘therapeutic landscape’, and indicate the implications of our work for health policy and civic governance in general.