Exploring Housing Attributes Selection based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Meeting the user's needs is essential in housing delivery. Therefore, designers are required to consider personal motivations in the housing decision making process. The authors consider that Maslow's theory on hierarchy of needs is applicable in explaining user's motivations in housing. The theory indicates that different levels of user's needs imply different levels of housing expectations, hence different house attributes. This paper discusses a theoretical framework developed by the authors to summarize the relationship between the user's needs and the attributes of housing units. By systematically linking the user's needs to architectural attributes, person-environment congruence (PEC), hence suitability of living environment, will be improved.