Geography

Urban Politics and Mental Health: An Agenda for Health Geographic Research

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Siting of mental health service facilities has often been subject to public opposition and political struggles. These processes have produced a landscape of mental health provision that is powerfully uneven and concentrated in economically and socially depressed areas. We argue that understanding this landscape requires an examination of the political processes that shape such siting decisions. Although health geographers (most importantly Dear and Wolch) have periodically engaged with politics, the important role of informal development politics in producing landscapes of health remains insufficiently examined. We introduce the case of residential social service facility ("group home") siting in central Massachusetts to explore the political dynamics of the production of health. Siting of group homes in Massachusetts is governed by a legal framework that provides social service agencies with legal protection and autonomy from local governments as they make siting choices. This exemption from local zoning ordinances often shifts local politics from formal to informal channels, leading to the application of many forms of soft influence over siting decisions. A comprehensive geographic analysis of mental health should include the social and political processes of siting. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Publication Title

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

Publication Date

9-1-2012

Volume

102

Issue

5

First Page

1084

Last Page

1092

ISSN

0004-5608

DOI

10.1080/00045608.2012.671128

Keywords

group homes, health politics, local development, mental health, siting

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