Effects of Switching Behavior for the Attraction on Pedestrian Dynamics

PLoS One. 2015 Jul 28;10(7):e0133668. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133668. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Walking is a fundamental activity of our daily life not only for moving to other places but also for interacting with surrounding environment. While walking on the streets, pedestrians can be aware of attractions like shopping windows. They can be influenced by the attractions and some of them might shift their attention towards the attractions, namely switching behavior. As a first step to incorporate the switching behavior, this study investigates collective effects of switching behavior for an attraction by developing a behavioral model. Numerical simulations exhibit different patterns of pedestrian behavior depending on the strength of the social influence and the average length of stay. When the social influence is strong along with a long length of stay, a saturated phase can be defined at which all the pedestrians have visited the attraction. If the social influence is not strong enough, an unsaturated phase appears where one can observe that some pedestrians head for the attraction while others walk in their desired direction. These collective patterns of pedestrian behavior are summarized in a phase diagram by comparing the number of pedestrians who visited the attraction to the number of passersby near the attraction. Measuring the marginal benefits with respect to the strength of the social influence and the average length of stay enables us to identify under what conditions enhancing these variables would be more effective. The findings from this study can be understood in the context of the pedestrian facility management, for instance, for retail stores.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Pedestrians*
  • Social Behavior*
  • Walking*

Grants and funding

JK was supported by Aalto University School of Engineering Doctoral Program. HJ was supported by Aalto University postdoctoral program and by Mid-career Researcher Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (2014030018), and Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (2014046922). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.