Castle Vale Community Well-being Project (CVCWP), funded by an EPSRC research grant, investigates ‘Systems Approaches to Well-being’. It brings together a unique team of investigators working within the fields of health, environment & design, social science and engineering to examine the relationship between personal well-being, community and the built environment. The team is concerned with experience of the individual and how it can be identified, defined and modelled from a systems perspective. A systems approach provides a way to decode data sets, inform analysis and provide interdisciplinary engagement.

Why Castle Vale?

“The regeneration of castle Vale under the stewardship of Housing Action Trust adopted a holistic approach…where landscaping and the provision of community services was a key aspect of the areas’ regeneration. The success of this work is clear to see both visibly and with an increase in residents’ self esteem”

Castle Vale Neighbourhood Partnership 2007 letter of support

Castle Vale is located to the east of Birmingham consisting of a discrete, identifiable (and definable) landscape. It forms a residential area which is managed by a partnership of organisations under the umbrella of the Castle Vale Neighbourhood Partnership (CVNP). These organisations include the Castle Vale Community Environmental Trust (CVCET) which looks after the environmental assets of the estate, and the Castle Vale Community Housing Association (CVCHA) which forms the largely resident based housing association. Consisting of 25,000 households the current estate originated from the demolishing of the original Castle Vale housing estate (typified by a poor reputation) and its replacement by the establishment of a high quality environment. Here the overall aim is to support the well-being of its residents through the implementation of systems and the development of environmental assets which engender well-being.