Crowd Dynamics

Overview

Our Protective Design and Security team has been providing physical security analysis and design advice to architects, building owners, developers, and public agencies for more than 65 years. By integrating our expertise in structural engineering, building design and protective design with advanced crowd dynamics and safety modeling solutions, we provide our clients with a unique service that streamlines safety measures of all kinds into projects efficiently and effectively from the outset.

Our approach prioritizes mitigating active shooter, terrorist, and crowd crush threats in sports venues and public spaces while ensuring a high-quality spectator experience. We collaborate across disciplines to bring the right expertise to each project to achieve exceptional results for our clients. Together, we redefine possibilities and deliver spectator experiences that are memorable for all the right reasons.

Understanding Crowd Dynamics

An increasingly important consideration, crowd dynamics is an interdisciplinary field of study that involves the analysis and modeling of crowd behavior. This discipline draws on principles from physics, computer science, mathematics, psychology and sociology, among others, to better understand how crowds behave, interact and evolve over time. Studying crowd movement patterns — how crowds respond to physical spaces and how behavior can change under different conditions, such as during emergencies or at large-scale events — is critical for architects, city planners, event managers, and emergency services responsible for designing and operating public venues.

Interpreting the Model

We know that one solution does not fit all, so we use a range of tools to conduct crowd dynamics in a given space — from static analyses to simulation models, including particle and fluid dynamics models that treat the crowd as a single entity, to agent-based models where each individual is modeled separately. We then analyze the models to understand crowd behavior within that given space and provide viable recommendations essential for safe event planning, urban design and emergency evacuation planning. And because we know how to plan, design and build venues of all sizes, we know how to work with stakeholders and various disciplines to develop the right solutions for each venue.

Qualifications

Our crowd dynamics services include:

• Active shooter simulation
• Concealed shooter analysis
• Crowd manager / event staff training
• Crowd movement strategy development
• Evacuation modeling and simulation
• Security screening and queuing studies