Many Public Administrations structure their services around the notion
of users’ need. However, there is a gap between private, subjectively perceived
needs (self-attributed) and needs that are attributed by PA to citizens (heteroattributed).
Because of the gap, citizens’ needs are often only partially satisfied by
PAs services. This gap is in part due to the fact that the meaning of the word “need”
is ambiguous and full of antinomic nuances. The purpose of this paper is to formulate
a definition of “need” suitable for citizens’ needs management with respect to
PA’s services offering, and to provide an accurate ontological analysis of the notion
of “need” and the network of concepts that relate to it
