ABSTRACT
One of the key implications of COVID-19 is the adoption of physical distancing provisions to minimise the risk of virus transmission. Physical distancing can have significant consequences on crowd movement both in normal conditions and during emergencies. The impact of physical distancing is discussed in this chapter by first presenting an overview of its implications on crowd dynamics and space usage. This is followed by an assessment of expected changes in crowd behaviour, including changes in the fundamental walking speed/density and flow/density relationships. Findings from an experiment investigating the impact of physical distancing on flow rates through doors are presented. In addition, a set of recommendations concerning modifications of the hand calculations currently used for evacuation design (e.g. hydraulic models) are presented alongside a discussion on possible modifications to agent-based crowd models. A verification test to evaluate the results produced by crowd evacuation modelling tools considering physical distancing is also presented. This chapter highlights the importance of considering the increased movement time due to physical distancing in evacuation design and provides insights on how to account for this issue in crowd modelling. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.