Self, Health and Space: What Moves You?

This is an extra post to provide space for thinking and writing about how you interact with your living environment and how this affects your lifestyle and your health. You can write a story, comment, opinion or perspective on where you live and how active you are able to be here and why. You can use this online SPACE for any of the following reasons:

1. To talk about a social interaction or event/incident that affected how you felt about living in the KGUV neighbourhood.

2. To suggest activities and get others together to pursue activities eg, birdwatching, walking groups, games in the park (perhaps for mums with young children) , theatre outings, coffee or book clubs or a swimming team... anything that interests you!

3. To give feedback on stories and ideas of others, to swap email addresses and phone numbers, to get in touch, and to get socially connected and physically active.

Social and Psychological Aspects of Physical Activity

This is the last post for questions about the Kelvin Grove Urban Village and the amount of physical activity you do. Please write as much as you can...

1. Would you say that, in a general sense, you are aware of how much physical activity or exercise you achieve during the day, and do you worry about it, or try to increase the amount? Do you ever consider taking more exercise, or are you content with how active you are?

2. If you see an ad on the TV telling people to do more physical activity, or hear a health promotion message about it on the radio does this make you want to become fitter? Do you ever act on these messages, or do you forget about them soon after hearing them?

3. What types of thoughts do you have that would make you want to increase your physical activity levels? What kinds of things play on your mind or which life events might suddenly make you motivated to exercise?

4. If you see people out and about exercising, does this inspire you to become more active? Do you compare yourself to others' bodyweights in and around the area that you live? How does this make you feel?

5. How interested would you be in being part of a social group that organised group walks, or bicycle rides, or games in the local park? Why/why not? And would you like to hear about such events online, by mobile/home phone, texting, or pamphlet in the mailbox?

Depth of Engagement with Neighbourhood Resources for Physical Activity

For this post, I am interested in finding out the degree to which you are aware of what is available in your neighbourhood, and which resources you are most interested in using or accessing for physical activity.

Q1. Are you aware of the public transport options available to you from the Village, and do you use them? If so, which ones to you use and why?

Q2. Do you ever use the parks or BBQ areas to socialise, rest, play sport, care for children, exercise or any other reason? If so, how often? What is your opinion of the local KGUV parks and green spaces? How could they be improved to make you use them more?

Q3. Do you use any of the pathways or bikeways? If so, what do you use them for, and do you find that they help you to walk or exercise more than you could where you were living previously?

Q.4 Are you aware of any other health-related resources that are near to the Village or that will be available to you soon, eg health clinic, GP, gymnasium, pool etc. Do you think you are likely to use these kinds of resources? WHy/why not?

Q5. Overall, would you say that KGUV is a place that promotes or allows physical activity for residents? If so, in what ways does it achiev this or not achieve this?

Moving into a New Urban Environment...

For this first post, I am interested in how much choice you had in deciding to move into your current accommodation; what your expectations were before moving in; and whether you feel that your everyday routine and lifestyle have changed significantly since moving to KGUV. Importantly, I would like to know whether you intended to become more PHYSICALLY ACTIVE once you moved in - or whether you did not expect much change in lifestyle and physical activities to occur. Please answer the following questions.

1. What brought you to KGUV? What persuaded you to choose this accommodation option over any other? How much choice do you feel you had in moving here?

2. How much did you know about KGUV prior to moving in? What types of expectations or images of the housing, resources, and neighbours did you have in mind before you came here?

3. What kind of lifestyle did you hope to lead once you were here? Did you have any expectations that your daily activities would be more interesting, or that you would more become more physically active once you moved in?

Please click on the COMMENTS link below and number your answers 1,2 and 3. Be as open and honest as you like, and feel free to respond to other comments that you see - whether you agree or disagree. Please write as much as you can.

The Effects of a New Urban Context on Health

This is a site for conducting qualitative research into understanding the processes connecting people, place, and physical activity in a new urban village in Brisbane, Australia. The name of the case-study under investigation is the Kelvin Grove Urban Village (KGUV). I am interested in finding out about how urban design and social diversity contribute to lifestyle patterns and communicative processes that influence health behaviours. Digital photography of the place, and comments and opinions of residents from different housing options will be posted. An analysis of the digital stories that emerge will provide an opportunity to build theories and interprative frameworks for understanding the empirical relationship between people, place, and health in the future.