The results indicate that the health of the resident population of the intervened neighbourhoods in Barcelona improved because of a new law that also reduced inequalities in health.

Improve conditions
The Neighbourhoods Law, implemented between 2004 and 2011 by the Government of Catalonia, led to large-scale urban renewal interventions in mostly deprived neighbourhoods. The focus was on physical improvement, social integration and economic gains, in order to improve living conditions of residents.

Barcelona
The researchers assessed the health of women and men of different social classes living in five renewed neighbourhoods in Barcelona. They compared them to people of non-intervened neighbourhoods with similar socio-economic conditions.
The results show that the health perception of both women and men improved in the neighbourhoods where intervention programmes were developed within the framework of the Neighbourhoods Law.

Mental health
Roshanak Mehdipanah is lead author of the study: "We have observed an improvement of the whole population, with a major effect on the working class, thus resulting in reduced social class inequalities". Mental health has remained stable in renewed neighbourhoods as opposed to its worsening in men living in non-intervened neighbourhoods. Thus, the Neighbourhoods Law seems to mitigate the adverse effects of the crisis in mental health, especially among men.

Effective projects
Researchers have concluded that projects that include better accessibility, walkability, social integration programmes and perception of security, among other interventions, are effective in improving the health of their residents.

The study has been published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Read more about SOPHIE on the www.HorizonHealth.eu project page.

Also watch the video about this study.