Crowd management

Abstract

The articles in this special section focus on crowd management in areas that are increasingly experiencing growths in populations. In its 2018 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects, the United Nations projects that 68 percent of the world's population is expected to be living in urban spaces by 2050, compared to the current 54 percent and 30 percent in 1950. The main drive for urbanization has been economic, with the general population seeking better employment opportunities accompanied by improved lifestyles. Such increased urbanization rates put significant pressure on city infrastructure networks and challenges existing methods for various aspects of governance, including crowd and traffic management. In particular, phenomena such as rush hours and special events carry significant challenges and risks. Environmental impacts due to massive urbanization are also on the rise. These and other indicators call for new management mechanisms for crowds, especially those exploiting recent advances in technology, e.g., the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data.