You have seen these lovely evacuation simulations, the ones with a bunch of agents moving together or clumping at an exit. Ones that we use to determine ASET condition, and which are present in almost every large PBD project...

Maybe even you are running such simulations. So, with that experience in mind - have you ever wondered if what you see makes sense. We all feel that humans in groups behave differently than a bunch of units in a crowd. But to what extent that 'different' could be important? That is the question with which I have approached dr Anne Templeton from the University of Edinburgh. Anne is a renowned scientist in the field of crowd psychology. She was kind enough to tell me the difference between psychological and physical crowds and why sending students to a pub helped here quantify that. Tap into this episode if you would like to learn the new stuff we are finding about human behaviour, and how that may change our future modelling and evacuation planning.

And make sure to check out Anne's webpage which is absolutely full of resources!
https://www.identitiesandcollectivebehaviour.com/

Thank you to the SFPE for recognizing me with the 2025 SFPE Fire Safety Engineering Award! Huge thanks to YOU for being a part of this, and big thanks to the OFR for supporting me over the years.

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