Behavioral Aspect of Housing

THEORIES ON HOUSING

Resident’s Satisfaction
 An indication of people’s response to the environment they live in.
Environment is not only the physical setting but also the social and economic
dimensions of such settings.

BASIC NEEDS APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT

Basic Material Needs
1. Food
2. Clothing
3. Water
4. Sanitation
5. Healthcare
6. Shelter and sleep
7. Income/Employment
8. Sex and Procreation
9. Recreation
10.Education
11.Electricity
12.Transportation
13.Communication

Basic Human Needs

1. Freedom
2. Security
3. Identity
4. Well-being
5. Communion with Nature (ecological balance)

Minimum Basic Needs (Pres. Fidel Ramos

Administration)
 Survival – Health, Food and Nutrition; Water and Sanitation (infant
mortality, malnutrition, access to safe water, access sanitary toilet)
  Security – Shelter, Peace and Order (households with squatters, households
with makeshift housing)
 Enabling – Income, Employment, Education (poverty threshold, food
threshold. 3 meals a day, unemployment rate, elementary school
participation, high school participation)

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the context of Housing

 Theorist says that behaviour of people at a point of time is prompted by
their needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

 Self-Actualization – improvement of one self (public and private setting)
 Self-esteem - source of pride; reflection of economic standing
 Social needs – sense of belonging
 Safety – protection from violence/lawlessness
 Physiological Needs – protection from natural elements

Interaction Approach to Housing Satisfaction

 Interaction among family members is necessary before they know of
satisfaction/dissatisfaction
 Situation – a set of values and attitudes in a process activity

Consensus about the level of satisfaction depends

on:
 Relative power of family members
 Family structure
 Dominance

POST-OCCUPANCY EVALUATION
 To measure occupant’s behaviour and their relations to the surrounding
environment
 70s –post-occupancy evaluations were carried out
 80s – decline as housing policies changed (privatization)
 Systematic – post-occupancy evaluation studies started
 90s – adoption of these studies by developing countries
The major concerns of P.O.E. are to evaluate the occupant’s view on:
 Privacy
 Security
 Use of materials and external space
 Building image
 Satisfaction level
 Personalization of space of their houses and housing areas

Major findings of P.O.E.

 Find expression and control to their own home environment
 Provide adequate degree of security and privacy
 Provide rich and varied physical settings for various age
 Image created by the environment – important consideration for the
occupants