12: Normative Pedestrian Behaviour Theory and Modelling

In optimising the design of airports, public transit stations, stadiums, shopping malls, etc., theory and models predicting spatio-temporal pedestrian flow patterns and individually experienced walking conditions, in terms of walking times, comfort levels, etc., are important. This holds equally for timetable design, where walking times experienced by public transit riders when accessing or transferring play an important role.

Analysis tools, such as the microscopic pedestrian model described in this contribution, can support infrastructure designers as well as public transport planners to optimise their design, making it more efficient, more comfortable, and safer. In this respect, we emphasise that pedestrian traffic and car-based traffic are very different. This is why flow theories and models of different modes generally are not interchangeable, justifying the development of a dedicated comprehensive dynamic theory for pedestrians with related models. Key elements in predicting pedestrian behaviour are activity scheduling (choice to execute a particular activity, the order in which activities are performed, the location where to perform an activity), route choice between activities in the two-dimensional continuous space, and multi-directional walking behaviour. The main theoretical foundation in this contribution is that of the “pedestrian economicus”. I.e. pedestrians are subjective cost minimisers.