A review of studies on understanding crowd dynamics in the context of crowd safety in mass religious gatherings

Understanding the principles and applications of crowd dynamics in mass gatherings is very important, specifically with respect to crowd risk analysis and crowd safety. Historical trends from India and other countries suggest that the stampedes in mass gatherings, especially in religious events occur frequently highlighting the importance of studying the crowd behaviour more scientifically. This is required to support appropriate and timely crowd management principles, in the planning of crowd control measures and provision of early warning systems at mass gatherings. Common pedestrian behaviours in crowd like group formation, self-organization, leader follower effect, queue formation and bottleneck conditions have substantial influence on crowd dynamics. It is important not to let a single aspect go overlooked with respect to mass gatherings since it can lead to major stampedes. Kumbh Mela, one of the largest mass religious gatherings in the world, features these different crowd scenarios observed often in the same event area and thus provides a unique opportunity to study the crowd behaviour in a holistic way. Understanding these pedestrian behaviours and having a clear understanding of the normal behaviour may provide opportunities to change crowd dynamics and overcome the adverse effects resulting in safer mass religious gatherings in future. This paper provides an exhaustive review of the current understanding of crowd dynamics and explores the modelling techniques that are available to enhance crowd safety. The purpose of this literature review is to improve the understanding of crowd dynamics, and highlight the research gaps in the context of crowd safety in mass religious gatherings like Kumbh Mela.