Predicting Crowd Behavior

Panic is contagious, and human contact in crowded conditions can create mob aggression.  This is a great example of the different methods for modeling human behavior and the relationships affected by that behavior.

The goal of this project is to develop a reusable and behaviorally-founded computer model of pedestrian movement and crowd behavior amid dense urban environments, to serve as a test-bed for experimentation. The idea is to use the model to test hypotheses, real world plans and strategies that are not very easy or are impossible to test in practice, Torrens says.

New Computer Model Predicts Crowd Behavior

This new model incorporates individual behavior among objects, which I would expect.  I think this would be a great experiment to run in a virtual world, let people play with the parameters and mold the behavior of the pedestrians and the environment.  I know this is a slightly twisted thought, but I find the idea of simulating a panicked crowd fairly amusing.  Just something about all those bots spreading chaos I guess.