Social groups in pedestrian crowds: review of their influence on the dynamics and their modelling

Abstract

Pedestrians are often encountered walking in the company of some social relations, rather than alone. The social groups thus formed, in variable proportions depending on the context, are not randomly organised but exhibit distinct features, such as the well-known tendency of 3-member groups to be arranged in a V-shape. The existence of group structures might thus impact the collective dynamics of the crowd, possibly in a critical way when emergency situations are considered. After turning a blind eye to these group aspects for years, endeavours to model groups in crowd simulation software have thrived in the past decades. This fairly short review opens on a description of their empirical characteristics and their (more controversial) impact on the global flow. Then, it aims to offer a pedagogical discussion of the main strategies to model such groups, within different types of models, in order to provide guidance for prospective modellers.