Analyzing museum exhibition spaces via visitor movement and exploration: The case of Whitworth Art Gallery of Manchester

Nowadays models that simulate pedestrians and their behaviour when moving in closed spaces
have aroused great interest [1, 2, 3]. Those, which describe emergency and/or non-emergency
situations, are usually employed from organisations to enrich their knowledge of visitors
experience and behaviour. However, there have been obtained cases where the techniques used
produce spatially and temporally limited empirical evidence and measurements [2, 4].
To understand the underlying causes and dynamics of pedestrian behaviour analysing
emergent behaviours can be a useful too. To that end analytical models proved to be
complicated, so agent based simulations have been introduced [2]. Aiming on how the
environment can be adjusted so as to provide an improvement of human comfort and safety,
pedestrians can be modelled as a collection of autonomous decision-making entities (agents)
which are described to mimic dierent type of physical and social behaviours [2, 4].
In this present work we propose an agent-based model that simulates visitor behaviour in
museum-exhibition spaces. As an extension of our previous work [2], that model denes visitors'
behaviour by introducing social forces as decision-making procedures. Based on dynamic and
social forces that either preserve or create groups of individuals, the model introduced explains
how agents bypass obstacles, move to stairs or follow other groups on their way out. We nally
apply the proposed model for the case of the Whitworth Art Gallery, in determining how visitors
behave and how dynamical models can be important in the level of service of museums and/or
in the optimal exploitation of exhibition spaces.