Crowd circulation and stadium design: low flow rate systems

For the past 30 years, sports stadia design guides have contained generalised optimistic flow rates for the design of crowd evacuation and egress routes. Unfortunately, even though the guides recognise their own limitations and the fact that lower flow rates should be considered in certain situations, human nature, practical needs and a lack of research has lead to widespread use of guidance values that are sometimes inappropriate. It is imperative within risk assessment and circulation design that this phenomenon is better understood in order to limit the potential for underdesign at the risk of unwanted levels of queuing, congestion and potentially unsafe conditions. This is especially important when considering the progressive move from prescriptive guidance to performance based design within the design industry. In recognition of this, the new European Standard for the design of spectator facilities recommends design flow rates significantly lower than those recommended in traditional sports guidance ...