Knowing the crowd
Crowd Dynamics International experience analyst and ArcTanGent festival director Goc O ’ Callaghan explains how capturing data about crowd behaviour in real time will help make events safer in the future
The importance of crowd safety , as recently highlight by the catastrophic disaster that took place at Astroworld , is increasingly in the event organiser and attendees ’ minds .
Ensuring that audiences feel safe within an entertainment environment is key to the ongoing success of that event , through the confidence to purchase an initial ticket and then in repeat patronage .
Audiences , now more than ever , are seeking transformational experiences and the damage caused to a brand by poor crowd management can not only be a threat to life , but also the reputation and longevity of an event . This highlights the importance for comprehensive understanding of crowd behaviour .
There is a need to better understand crowd behaviour and implement efficient crowd management at events and areas impacted by them such as public spaces and transport hubs . Technology is becoming the cornerstone of analysing
human behaviour . For example , CrowdDNA , a Horizon 2020 research project , will lead to a radically new concept in the management of crowds .
The CrowdDNA project is exploratory in its approach , analysing crowd interactions during laboratory experiments and from real-life ‘ observatories ’. The importance of the observatories is to process data on authentic crowd movement outside of a controlled experimental environment . This is to be done at a range of events such as festivals , arenas , street events and temporary attractions . Through the learnings harnessed from this research project , it is expected that
Goc O ’ Callaghan
crowd safety can be improved through a new generation of crowd simulation models which can predict the dynamic behaviour of crowds and the associated risk factors . Such
technology should afford event organisers and crowd management practitioners better ways to analyse and forecast crowd behaviours while understanding what visitors are experiencing within the crowd . This increase in knowledge and technology will inevitably lead to safer working practices .
It is important that live events participating in projects enable the capture of crowd data as it happens , without memory recall bias of a participant ’ s experience ; people report on their experiences differently when asked after the event . A series of data-capture scenarios can be set up within an event or entertainment environment . This data can then be analysed to provide further insight into crowd dynamics and help to develop new technologies that improve crowd safety on site and to enhance consumer experience .
Owners and operators , through their participation in CrowdDNA , will gain insight into their audiences ’ behaviour and areas where crowd movement could be improved to optimise experience . Participation not only benefits the project , but also the event and audiences .
If you are the owner or operator of an event or entertainment environment and would like to know more about the CrowdDNA
“ It is important that live events participating in projects enable the capture of crowd data as it happens , without memory recall bias .”
project or are interested in participating , then you can visit www . crowddna . eu or contact Goc O ’ Callaghan at goc . ocallaghan @ crowddynamics . com .
CrowdDNA has received funding from the European commission .
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