Developing a safe, robust Crowd Management Plan
It is important to understand that the crowd coming towards a venue will be conditioned by the environment which includes both hard and soft elements (design and information). It is equally important to understand that the event organiser/planner and the crowd manager has control over these influences. We teach the principles of phases, influences and modes of crowd behaviour in the workshops. for this we apply the process of meta-modelling the event.
Meta-Modelling
Metamodelling, or meta-modeling is the analysis, construction and development of the frames, rules, constraints, models and theories applicable and useful for modelling a predefined class of problems.
Phases, Influences and Modes
We define an event in phases, influences and modes:
Three Primary Phases of Crowd Behaviour - Ingress, Circulation and Egress
Three Primary Influences on Crowd Behaviour - Design, Information and Management
Two Primary Modes of Crowd Behaviour - Normal and Emergency
This can be expressed in a matrix (see below) which we populate with the specifics of the event we are modelling.
Click here for an article on the DIM:ICE Meta-model
Event + Environment + Crowd = Mood of the crowd
Mood (the pervading atmosphere or tone of a place, situation or crowd) = Environment (such as type of venue, weather, music, terrain, hot, cold, noisy) and the Event (nature of the gathering, religious, festival, concert, public speech, demonstration, march, protest, performer) and the Crowd (demographics, character and composition of the crowd).
The Mood is a function of the Event (religious, festival, concert, speech), the Environment (hot, cold, noisy) and the Crowd (demographics, character and composition of the crowd).
Fundamental types of Crowd Behaviour
Casual - People coming and going; not organised but may be in loose groups. Will accept direction from authority. Well behaved.
Cohesive - Crowd assembled for a specific purpose or reason. No leadership.
Expressive - Crowd Gathering for a common purpose. Under loose leadership or following a particular motive. Not aggressive but sections of the crowd behaviour becoming mildly anti-social. May require active involvement by authorities.
Anti-Social - Crowds engaged in acts of civil disobedience or direct action. Some sections may become aggressive and violent while other sections continue with different activities.
Incident - Crowd retreating from or reacting to a dangerous situation. Caused by serious anti-social behaviour and/or emergency situation.