Pedestrian Simulation in Transit Stations Using Agent-Based Analysis

Abstract

The research discusses experiential outcome in the application of crowd simulation technology to analyze the pedestrian circulation in public spaces to facilitate design and planning decisions. The paper describes how to connect spatial design with agent-based simulation (ABS) for various design and planning scenarios. It describes the process of visualizing and representing pedestrian movement, as well as pathfinding and crowd behavior study. An ABS consists of a large number of agents, which are controlled by simple localized rules to interact with each other within a virtual environment, thereby formulating a bottom-up system. The concept of the ABS has been widely used in computer science, biology, and social science to simulate swarm intelligence, dynamic social behavior, and fire evacuation. The simulation consists of interacting agents which can create various complexities. This paper describes research on using local interactions to generate passenger flow analysis. An ABS is used to optimize the pedestrian flow and construct the micro-level complexity within a simulated environment. We focus on how agent-driven emergent patterns can evolve during the simulation in response to various design iterations. The research extends to the agents’ interactions driven by a set of rules and external environment. Our research method includes data collection, quantitative analysis, and crowd simulation on two train stations and surrounding areas in Sihui train station in Beijing, and Xuzhou, China. By proposing a mix-use program with the local public transportation system, the new development is integrated with the existing urban infrastructure and public space. Through the multi-agent simulation, we evaluate the crowd flow, total travel time, density, and public accessibility. Based on the result of ABS, we discussed whether various space design methods can improve pedestrian flow efficiency and passenger experience, as well as shortening transfer time, and reducing congestion.