Modelling pedestrian behaviour under emergency conditions

Movement of people forms an important component of a multi-modal transportation system. Promoting walking is an important part of the shift to more sustainable transport (OECD, 2002; Cotter and Hannan, 1999). Thus the planning and designing of amenities for efficient, comfortable and safe walking operations of pedestrian’s movements in public places such as multimodal points, shopping malls, stadiums and concert venues is a great challenge to planners to create a liveable and sustainable infrastructure. The movement of large numbers of people is important in many situations, such as the evacuation of buildings, stadiums, theatres, ships, aircraft or outdoor events like public assemblies, open concerts, religious gatherings, community evacuation etc., under emergency conditions. Numerous incidents have been reported (for example Crowd Dynamics, 2008; Helbing et al., 2002) in which overcrowding has resulted in injuries and death during emergency situations. Modelling and empirical study of pedestrian behaviour under emergency conditions is imperative to assist planners and managers of emergency response to analyse and assess safety precautions for those situations.