Open research questions in Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics

What the literature leaves open

• The study had a limited sample size of 18 participants. The study only included participants who had never evacuated from a wildfire before. The study did not incorporate eventsynchronous scent diffusion or localized olfactory stimuli.

  Smells Like Fire: Exploring the Impact of Olfactory Cues in VR Wildfire Evacuation Training · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of research on the use of olfactory stimuli in VR wildfire evacuation training. The effects of olfactory stimuli on immersion and engagement in VR wildfire evacuation training are not well understood.

  Smells Like Fire: Exploring the Impact of Olfactory Cues in VR Wildfire Evacuation Training · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of effective sensor and warning systems in rural areas leads to a reliance on self-organization for early evacuation response to disasters. The need for a modeling framework to analyze the self-organized evacuation process in such communities.

  How warnings diffuse among the public: factors that influence self-organized evacuation decisions · 2026 · DOI

• Current approaches struggle to capture high-level behaviors that emerge from interactions over time. Most agent-based methods focus on low-level navigation tasks rather than decision processes and interactions.

  Gen-C: Populating Virtual Worlds with Generative Crowds · 2026 · DOI

• The study faced challenges in selecting a representative sample of households. The survey was limited to a single event and may not be generalizable to other emergencies.

  THE MISSISSAUGA TRAIN DERAILMENT AND EVACUATION, 10–16 NOVEMBER 1979 · 1981 · DOI

• The study was limited to a survey of households in Mississauga. The sample was selected from a street directory and may not be representative of the entire population.

  THE MISSISSAUGA TRAIN DERAILMENT AND EVACUATION, 10–16 NOVEMBER 1979 · 1981 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the understanding of the effects of density and poster conditions on subjects' perceptions and task performance. Prior research has not fully examined the impact of density and poster conditions on subjects' perceptions of crowding.

  Physical, social, and personal factors in the perception of crowding · 1979 · DOI

• The paper suggests that future research should explore the application of Gibson's ecological concepts to various fields, such as architecture and urban planning. The study recommends that future studies examine the relationship between perception and behavior in high-density environments.

  Ecological approaches to understanding human crowding · 1979 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of human crowding using an ecological approach. The study recognizes the need to apply Gibson's ecological concepts to understand the effects of high density on social interactions.

  Ecological approaches to understanding human crowding · 1979 · DOI

• There is a need for a safe and effective way to teach trampoline fundamentals to novices. The paper identifies a gap in the current training methods for trampoline gymnastics.

  Safety on the Trampoline: A Progression Model for the Safe Introduction of Trampoline Fundamentals · 1979 · DOI

• The lack of a systematic procedure for emergency evacuation of severely profoundly handicapped students. The need for a method to ensure all students are accounted for during emergency evacuations.

  Emergency Evacuation Procedures for Severely Profoundly Handicapped Students · 1979 · DOI

• The paper suggests that future research should investigate the lasting effects of misattribution on crowding. The paper also suggests that future research should examine the effectiveness of the theory in different contexts, such as familiar environments.

  Reducing crowding without increasing space: Some applications of an attributional theory of crowding · 1978 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in the existing research on crowding, which focuses on increasing space rather than reducing crowding without increasing space. The paper also notes that there is a lack of understanding of the attributional processes underlying crowding.

  Reducing crowding without increasing space: Some applications of an attributional theory of crowding · 1978 · DOI

• The paper identifies the need for clearer definitions and measurements of density and crowding. It argues that determining the most appropriate operational measures of density and crowding is a basic issue.

  Conceptual Problems Involved With the Measurement of Density and Crowding Indices · 1977 · DOI

• The lack of information in Dunstan's note on measuring density and crowding. The need to determine appropriate operational measures of density and crowding.

  Measuring Density and Crowding: a Reply To Dunstan · 1977 · DOI

• Prior research has failed to produce a coherent set of findings on the behavioral consequences of crowding. The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the relationship between crowding and interference.

  An interference analysis of crowding · 1977 · DOI

• Further research can examine the relationship between personality variables and crowding in different contexts. Future studies can use more analytical approaches to understand crowding.

  Individual differences in the perception of crowding · 1977 · DOI

• Prior research has not fully explored individual differences in crowding. The study aims to fill this gap by examining the relationship between personality variables and crowding.

  Individual differences in the perception of crowding · 1977 · DOI

• The study only focused on a co-educational High School in Adelaide, South Australia - The sample size was limited to 345 fourth year students - No other limitations are stated

  The Meaning, Measurement and Interchangeability of Density and Crowding Indices · 1975 · DOI

• Future research should aim to clarify the meaning and measurement of density and crowding - The relationship between urban crowding and social problems should be further studied - No other future research directions are stated

  The Meaning, Measurement and Interchangeability of Density and Crowding Indices · 1975 · DOI

• The Newton-Raphson method failed to converge to a solution on a large number of trials. The model's practicability is raised as a concern. The need for more powerful solution methods is highlighted.

  A theoretical model of pedestrian flow · 1974 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the perception of crowding and its relationship to physical, social, and personal variables. The study aims to address this gap by exploring the role of room size in shaping the perception of crowding.

  Physical, Social, and Personal Determinants of the Perception of Crowding · 1973 · DOI

• Previous research on crowding has generally lacked a theoretical perspective. There has been a tendency to view crowding in terms of spatial considerations alone.

  A Social-Psychological Model of Human Crowding Phenomena · 1972 · DOI

• The development of quantitative analysis techniques for pedestrian planning - The study of pedestrian route capacities and demand for pedestrian rights-of-way

  Planning For Pedestrians · 1968 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in the existing research on pedestrian behavior. It presents an alternative framework to address this gap.

  Using Film to Analyze Pedestrian Behavior · 1982 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics

• Movement toward the Familiar · Environment and Behavior · 1985 · 166 citations
• Escape: an optimization method based on crowd evacuation behaviors · Artificial Intelligence Review · 2024 · 98 citations
• Spontaneous synchronization of motion in pedestrian crowds of different densities · Nature Human Behaviour · 2021 · 73 citations
• Toward an Explanation of Mass Care Shelter Use in Evacuations · International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters · 1992 · 64 citations
• Agent-based simulation for pedestrian evacuation: A systematic literature review · International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction · 2024 · 59 citations
• An efficient dynamic route optimization for urban flooding evacuation based on Cellular Automata · Computers Environment and Urban Systems · 2021 · 56 citations
• Seeing the invisible: From imagined to virtual urban landscapes · Cities · 2020 · 51 citations
• Assessing perceived driving difficulties under emergency evacuation for vulnerable population groups · Socio-Economic Planning Sciences · 2020 · 40 citations
• An agent-based model of public space use · Computers Environment and Urban Systems · 2020 · 38 citations
• Evacuation Behavior in a Subway Train Emergency: A Video-based Analysis · Environment and Behavior · 2021 · 33 citations

Most recent work

• Modified social force model for emergency evacuation: Non-adaptive behaviors shaped by heterogeneous emotional intensity · Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications · 2026
• DB-DDPG-ET: A novel risk assessment framework for crowd safety during boarding & alighting process at subway platforms · Reliability Engineering & System Safety · 2026
• A Conceptual Decision-Support Agent-Based Framework for Evacuation Planning Under Compound Hazards · Sustainability · 2026
• Smells Like Fire: Exploring the Impact of Olfactory Cues in VR Wildfire Evacuation Training · 2026
• A covariate aware and dual convolutional network model for stadium crowd flow prediction · Scientific Reports · 2026
• How warnings diffuse among the public: factors that influence self-organized evacuation decisions · Natural Hazards · 2026
• Convolutional Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm for Crowd Flow Management with Congestion Reduction · Advances in Complex Systems · 2026
• Elevator-assisted evacuation planning and microscopic simulation · Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications · 2026
• Improved visual-information-driven model for crowd simulation and its modular application · Chaos Solitons & Fractals · 2026
• Gen-C: Populating Virtual Worlds with Generative Crowds · Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques · 2026

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