Abstract
The purpose of the study was to examine the housing needs of the elderly who lived in rural area and suggest the planning directions of the housing for the rural elderly. The subjects were 192 elderlies who lived in the rural area in Gyeongnam and Chonbuk. They were selected by using the stratified sampling method. Also the interview method was used for collecting the data. The results were as follows: 1) Most of the rural elderly had some problems in their health. Thus, the housing for them should be planned on the basis of their health conditions. 2) The rural elderly had active interaction with their neighborhoods. Therefore, the housing for them should be planned for maintaining this active relation. 3) The rural elderly has lived in their housing for long time and wanted to live there as long as possible. This implies that the concept of 'aging in place' should be considered as one of the Important design issues in the rural housing for the elderly. 4) Even though many rural elderlies didn't know about the planned housing facilities for the elderly, they had intentions to live in there if they were provided in rural area. 5) The rural elderly preferred the monthly payment system or the life long payment system as the payment system of the planned housing facilities for the elderly. Also, they wanted that facility to be maintained by the government. 6) The detached housing type or three story townhouse type which is located in each rural village as small size would be desirable as the housing for the rural elderly. 7) The 10-30 pyung would be desirable as the size of housing unit. Also, 2-6 persons per room in case of sharing a bedroom. 8) Ondol-bang would be desirable however the size of the bedroom should be determined by considering using the bed.
