Retracing evacuation strategy: A virtual reality game-based investigation into the influence of building’s spatial configuration in an emergency

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Authors

SNOPKOVÁ Dajana UGWITZ Pavel STACHOŇ Zdeněk HLADÍK Jiří JUŘÍK Vojtěch KVARDA Ondřej KUBÍČEK Petr

Year of publication 2022
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Spatial Cognition & Computation
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

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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