Aims & objectives

The overall aims of GoWell were:                  

  • To investigate the health and wellbeing impacts of regeneration activity associated with the Glasgow investment programme.

  •  To understand the processes of change and implementation which contribute to (positive and negative) health impacts.

  • To contribute to community awareness and understanding of health issues and enable community members to take part in the programme.        

  • To share best practice and knowledge of 'what works' with regeneration practitioners across Scotland on an ongoing basis.  

GoWell evaluated change at three different levels:  the individual or household, the neighbourhood or community and the city.  And looked at it from the perspective of:  the people involved, the places involved, and the processes taking place.

Our research objectives were:

  • To investigate how neighbourhood regeneration and housing investment affects individuals' health and wellbeing.

  • To access the degree to which places are transformed across a range of dimensions through processes of regeneration and housing improvement.

  • To understand the processes that support the maintenance or development of cohesive and sustainable communities.

  • To monitor the effects of regeneration policy on area-based health and social inequalities across Glasgow.

  • To develop and test research methods appropriate to the investigation of complex, area-based social policy interventions.

Our learning objectives were:

  • To distil learning from across the various components of GoWell, in a way that enables regeneration policy and implementation to take greater account of opportunities to improve health and wellbeing.

  • To make opportunities to influence policy across Government Directorates and at a regional and local level.

  • To facilitate capacity of the GoWell communities and their local structures to use learning in a way that empowers them.

  • To disseminate methodological developments and research findings to academic and practitioner audiences, through a range of written and verbal communications.