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Simple Heuristics and the Modelling of Crowd Behaviours

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Book cover Pedestrian and Evacuation Dynamics 2012

Abstract

A crowd of pedestrians is a complex system that exhibits a rich variety of self-organized collective behaviors, such as lane formation, stop-and-go waves, or crowd turbulence. Understanding the mechanisms of crowd dynamics requires establishing a link between the local behavior of pedestrians during interactions, and the global dynamics of the crowd at high density. For this, the elaboration of a model is necessary.

In this contribution, we will make a distinction between two kinds of modelling methods: outcome models that are often based on analogies with Newtonian mechanics, and process models based on concepts of cognitive science. While outcome models describe directly the movements of a pedestrian by means of repulsive forces or probabilities to move from one place to another, process models generate the movement from the bottom-up by describing the underlying cognitive process used by the pedestrian during navigation.

Here, we will describe and compare two representatives of outcome and process models, namely the social force model on the one hand, and the heuristic model on the other hand. In particular, we will describe the strength and the limitations of each approach, and discuss possible future improvements for process models.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    Mehdi Moussaïd & Jonathan D. Nelson

Authors
  1. Mehdi Moussaïd
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  2. Jonathan D. Nelson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mehdi Moussaïd .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. und Transportsysteme (IVT), ETH Zürich Institut für Verkehrsplanung, Zürich, Switzerland

    Ulrich Weidmann

  2. Pestalozzi & Stäheli Ingenieurbüro Umwelt Mobilität Verkehr, Basel, Switzerland

    Uwe Kirsch

  3. und Verkehr, Universität Duisburg-Essen Physik von Transport, Duisburg, Germany

    Michael Schreckenberg

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Moussaïd, M., Nelson, J.D. (2014). Simple Heuristics and the Modelling of Crowd Behaviours. In: Weidmann, U., Kirsch, U., Schreckenberg, M. (eds) Pedestrian and Evacuation Dynamics 2012. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02447-9_5

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