Retracing evacuation strategy: A virtual reality game-based investigation into the influence of building’s spatial configuration in an emergency
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Spatial Cognition & Computation |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://doi.org/10.1080/13875868.2021.1913497 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13875868.2021.1913497 |
| Keywords | indoor evacuation; spacesyntax; isovist; evacuation signage; virtual reality (VR) |
| Description | During evacuation, individual navigation behavior is often dictated by the legibility of evacuation signs and the environmental setting itself. People tend to follow previously-used and known routes (to retrace) rather than follow evacuation signage. This has proven undesirable, even fatal, in emergencies and such behavior calls for a better understanding of the influencing factors. This contribution consists of a virtual reality experiment in which 72 participants evacuated from a hotel building in which the spatial configurations were altered. The tendency to retrace diminished when the evacuation route led through a wider, straight corridor, suggesting that the building’s spatial configuration has an important influence on retracing and should be more carefully considered in the design of buildings in and agent-based simulations. |
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