Pedestrian flow and crowd operation variables
Serge Paul Hoogendoorn (TU Delft - Traffic Systems Engineering)
W. Daamen (TU Delft - Traffic Systems Engineering)
Dorine Duives (TU Delft - Transport, Mobility and Logistics)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Traffic flow variables are essential for understanding, analysing, and optimising how pedestrians move in urban areas. In this chapter, we introduce the variables that can be used to describe a pedestrian flow. These variables can be microscopic (individual pedestrians), macroscopic (aggregate level), or mesoscopic (distributions of microscopic quantities). We start with the most detailed level of description, a trajectory. The trajectory describes the dynamics of an individual pedestrian as a function of time by its (two-dimensional) position in space. Based on the trajectory, we derive the most relevant microscopic variables, velocity and acceleration. Then, we give different definitions of density, one of the key macroscopic flow variables, by taking a snapshot of a pedestrian traffic situation at a time instant. Density is used to express crowdedness and level-of-service. Next, we look at the space-mean velocity of a pedestrian flow, followed by the third key macroscopic variable, the flow rate. The flow rate is the number of pedestrians passing a cross-section during a certain time period. We end this chapter with the generalised definitions of flow, density, and velocity for a time-space region, and show how they are related.
Files
File under embargo until 25-01-2026