Abstract
Many studies have demonstrated the adverse effect of the built environments on health and differentiated between their direct and indirect impacts. In the case of diabetes and other chronic diseases, such studies concentrate on the direct impact of built environments on the living conditions of citizens either at home or in the neighbourhood. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), little research has tackled the indirect and so-called place-based impact of the built environment. This study reports on the findings of surveys carried out on 76 diabetics who usually visit the King Fahd Teaching Hospital of the University of Dammam, Al-Khober in the Eastern province of KSA. It investigates the relationship between the place-based impact of the built environment, diabetes and living conditions. The working hypothesis is that: living conditions found in the homes and surrounding neighbourhoods of those suffering from diabetes do aggravate the symptoms of the disease, which in turn have an adverse impact on the medical condition. The study provides evidence to support this hypothesis as the findings reveal there is a positive correlation between the place-based impact of built environments, diabetes, living conditions, homes and neighbourhoods and these jointly aggravate the symptoms associated with the medical condition.