Design Thinking Challenge: Introduction

Imagine making the decision with your family to leave your home and walk in the pursuit of a better life. Globally, refugee families are making the decision to leave what they know and travel through dangerous terrain, often taking only the clothes on their backs and a few personal items. As of fall of 2023, the UN estimates there are over 100 million forcibly displaced people worldwide.

In 1943, Maslow created a hierarchy of needs to better understand what motivates people to do what they do. His model is depicted in five stages, suggesting the bottom or basic needs most strongly motivate people to take action. Self‑actualization is the top of Maslow’s hierarchy, and he felt that only “one in a hundred people become fully self-actualized because our society rewards motivation primarily based on esteem, love and other social needs.”

Maslow also stated, “It is quite true that man lives by bread alone—when there is no bread…” (1943, p. 375). In the case of refugees, one can only assume that they make the decision to leave their homes because the risk or threat to their families’ needs is so significant that the pursuit of an uncertain alternative is better than where they are. Refugees are situated globally with the majority originating in Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.