Where we stay or live plays an important role in our daily lives. From how we interact with the people surrounding us to how the environment affects our wellbeing, a place we stay meant so much to us. A grown person can head back to a place called 'home' even if it is a rundown suburb with much poverty and hardship. It is where we used to belong, poured our emotions into it, and grow up in.
A place can affect us dearly. Spatial segmentation may give us more personal space, but too much of privacy could lead to some potential issues. When we have more personal space, we leave out 'connectedness' from our daily lives, and this lead to losing sight of community as a whole. Individual tolerance of the others may be threatened. In addition, people finding privacy difficult to obtain, such as children, may spend more time out of their homes, away from the surveillance of responsible adults. All these affect the everyday life and health of the people in this place.
A place may also be affected by global capitalism, where the rich will remain rich, and the poor will become poorer. Be it legal or illegal dumping of toxic wastes, the people who suffered from this exposure to hazard are the people of low income or defenceless ethnicity. As the voices of these people are often neglected, they are defenceless against the party causing harm, and even help from government comes slow.
The local community grows differently too, according to the people occupying the space. In places with great access to resources such as high income and education, the extensive ties formed in the local community may be shallow and short term. However, places with much needs may have less extensive ties, but the bonds may be deeper, involving frequent contacts and greater intensity.
As we study how human interacts with each other in a local vicinity, we may observe a trend of the place, and this actually affects how we should provide support to the community. I believe that when a medical professional is involved in the wellbeing of the society, he would better understand how to provide the services to them, as he understands better the cause of sufferings.
