[Skip to content]

South West Observatory
Search our Site
South West Observatory
.

Health Wealth and Happiness: What Makes a Prosperous Region?

  • A Special Report - Conference Essays 2010
Health, Wealth and Happiness: Special Report
What do we envisage when we wish each other a prosperous New Year? How can we make it happen here and now?

The South West Observatory’s 7th Annual Conference brought together a broad range of expertise to consider how distinct notions of prosperity are correlated, how to articulate and measure a common understanding of prosperity, and how to bring it about.

This report is builds on discussion at that Conference and is made up of essays from contributors on the day. To download a copy of the report click Conference Essays: Health, Wealth and Happiness. 

Read Wellbeing Essays

  • Vinita Nawathe (Health, Wealth and Happiness: Conference Essays Foreword) Vinita NawatheVinita Nawathe, SWO Managing Director, introduces the the topic of the 2010 publication 'Health, Wealth and Happiness: What Makes a Prosperous Region?'. "In our view, evidence - data, research and analysis - are weapons in armoury. Evidence does not replace decision-making, it helps it. The stronger your evidence the stronger your argument, the more you understand, the better prepared you are for the counterargument." Read more...
  • Martin Boddy (Health, Wealth and Happiness: Conference Essays) Martin BoddyProfessor Martin Boddy, SWO Chair, introduces the topic of understanding and measuring health, wealth and happiness. "How we measure progress is fundamental to how we define our policy goals. The measures we use, the performance indicators we set define and shape thinking on where we should be heading. Prosperity can be defined in terms of affluence, growth and wealth. But it can also encompass welfare, wellbeing and happiness - and these are not necessarily the same thing." Read more...
  • Sara Eppel (Health, Wealth and Happiness: Conference Essays) Sara EppelDr Sara Eppel, DEFRA, on health, wealth and happiness, considers: When the 2005 Sustainable Development Strategy was published in 2005 Government committed to looking holistically at wellbeing, to see what is might mean for policy and how it might be measured. A cross-Government group identified measures to contribute to a basket of wellbeing indicators. A common understanding of what wellbeing is was established. Read more...
  • Dr Gabriel Scally (Health, Wealth and Happiness: Conference Essays) Gabriel ScallyRegional Director of Public Health, Gabriel Scally, looks at the wellbeing issues from a public health perspective. "When understanding the interactions between health, wealth and happiness it is important to consider two main factors. Firstly, that 'health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity' but also that 'human health is a subsystem of the Earth's health. You cannot have well humans on a sick planet." Read more...
  • Matthew Taylor (Health, Wealth and Happiness: Conference Essays) Matthew TaylorChief Exec at the RSA discusses models of citizenship and how this plays into the debate on wellbeing. "One way for the South West to think about future challenges is to ask what model of citizenship is needed for the region to be successful. In the face of the short term problems of public service funding and rising social needs, the longer term challenge of climate change and finite natural resources, and the overall context of globalisation, how do we need to live?" Read more...
  • Nigel Jump (Health, Wealth and Happiness: Conference Essays) Nigel JumpChief Economist at the South West RDA Nigel Jump looks at GDP/GVA in the debate on wellbeing. "Prosperity can be defined in many ways. Here, I concentrate on one important aspect: “a successful, flourishing or thriving … especially in financial respects.” Whilst it is not everything, financial prosperity is a crucial part of overall well-being." Read more...
  • Suzi Leather (Health, Wealth and Happiness: Conference Essays) Suzi LeatherChair of the Charity Commission, Dame Suzi Leather, talks about prosperity and ways to encourage it. "To prosper means to thrive, to do well, to succeed. It does not mean to get, or be, rich. Indeed the drive for riches is often anathema to prosperity. We seem to be almost hard-wired to want to improve our lot but when the concept of improvement is purely a material notion and when it is based only on individual gain then, ironically, we begin to drive out precisely that which underpins true prosperity." Re
  • Katie Williams (Health, Wealth and Happiness: Conference Essays) Katie WilliamsProfessor Katie Williams, UWE, looks at planning and the planning system and its impact on wellbeing and development. "Even given the current economic climate, it is likely that there will be large scale housing, and therefore, urban growth in the South West in the next 20-30 years. Latest projections show that the number of households in the Region will increase by 36% between 2006 and 2031...but how can we deliver truly sustainable communities?" Read more...
  • Simon Mauger (Health, Wealth and Happiness: Conference Essays) Simon MaugerSimon Mauger, NIACE, talks about learning and lifelong learning within the wellbeing debate. "How might those concerned with education and learning through life contribute to developing thoughtful engagement with future possibilities? How do we draw on the lessons learned from our existing research traditions to enhance education's capacity for developing informed strategies for responding to, shaping and adapting to socio-technical change?" Read more...
  • Jonathon Porritt (Health, Wealth and Happiness) Jonathon PorrittEnvironmentalist Jonathon Porritt talks about wellbeing, the UK political landscape and future possibilities. "One of the most important features of a modern and resilient economy is its ability to provide access to sustainable, properly paid employment. In the past, a legitimate criticism of a great deal of green politics has been that it ignored this essential requirement, and I believe this has undermined the ability of green campaigners to appeal to the core of British opinion.' Read more...
With contributions from:

Professor Martin Boddy, Dr Sara Eppel, Paul Brown, Matthew Taylor, Nigel Jump, Dame Suzi Leather, Professor Katie Williams, Simon Mauger and Jonathon Porritt CBE