Towards an Agent-Based Proxemic Model for Pedestrian and Group Dynamic

Models for the simulation of pedestrian dynamics and crowds of pedestrians have already been successfully applied to several scenarios and case studies, off-the-shelf simulators can be found on the market and they are commonly employed by end-user and consultancy companies. However, these models are the result of a first generation of research efforts considering individuals, their interactions with the environment and among themselves, but generally neglecting aspects like (a) the impact of cultural heterogeneity among individuals and (b) the effects of the presence of groups and particular relationships among pedestrians. This work is aimed, on one hand, at clarifying some fundamental anthropological considerations on which most pedestrian models are based, and in particular Edward T. Hall's work on proxemics. On the other hand, the paper will briefly describe the first steps towards the definition of an agentbased model encapsulating in the pedestrian's behavioural model effects capturing both proxemics and influences due to potential presence of groups in the crowd.