Sumesh P. Thampi

We study the dynamics of human crowds using agent-based modelling and study the proposition that random motion of agents can be transitioned to collective motion by controlling individual agent dynamics. Specifically, we investigate and characterize the nature of transitions from collective motion to disorderly motion and vice versa. Our results show that collective motion in crowds arise under certain conditions of coordination as well as individual motivation. We show a regime map when first order phase transition from disordered to orderly crowd motion is observed as the coordination increases. Similarly, we show that for a constant coordination coefficient, as the individual motivation increases, a second order transition is observed. Therefore, for every value of coordination coefficient, we identify a critical value of motive force which is required for the crowd to self-organize by smoothly transitioning into orderly motion.