Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Simulating evacuation of slums

Johansson, Ebba LU (2025) In LUTVDG/TVBB VBRM10 20251
Division of Fire Safety Engineering
Abstract
By 2050, 70% of the global population is projected to live in urban areas, with much of this growth occurring in developing countries where the demand for affordable and accessible housing is not met, resulting in a growing population residing in slums or areas of slum-like conditions. One of the many risks associated with living in slums or areas of slum-like conditions is fires, which are frequent and quickly spread as a result of the proximity of combustible dwellings. This thesis investigates residents' ability to evacuate through simulation using the Pathfinder software. The study was divided into two parts: the first assessed methods for importing slum geometric layouts into Pathfinder by evaluating tools such as Blender, AutoCAD,... (More)
By 2050, 70% of the global population is projected to live in urban areas, with much of this growth occurring in developing countries where the demand for affordable and accessible housing is not met, resulting in a growing population residing in slums or areas of slum-like conditions. One of the many risks associated with living in slums or areas of slum-like conditions is fires, which are frequent and quickly spread as a result of the proximity of combustible dwellings. This thesis investigates residents' ability to evacuate through simulation using the Pathfinder software. The study was divided into two parts: the first assessed methods for importing slum geometric layouts into Pathfinder by evaluating tools such as Blender, AutoCAD, and FormIt. The second part involved a case study of Saheed Bhagat Singh JJC in Delhi, India. The case study simulated various evacuation scenarios, accounting for population size, blocked exits, and resident behaviours such as extinguishing fires, gathering belongings, and finding relatives. The results showed that narrow passages affect evacuation times, particularly under high population density and counterflows. Due to the lack of reliable input data, such as detailed layouts and behavioural parameters, the simulations offer general insights rather than precise predictions. Before the tool can provide exact evacuation times, there is a need to further collect data on human behaviour in fire evacuation in slum areas to inform calibration of the input parameters of evacuation simulations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Johansson, Ebba LU
supervisor
organization
course
VBRM10 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
evacuation modeling, evacuation simulations, slums, informal settlements, slumområden, evakuering
publication/series
LUTVDG/TVBB
report number
5744
other publication id
LUTVDG/TVBB--5744--SE
language
English
id
9197179
date added to LUP
2025-06-12 08:26:04
date last changed
2025-06-12 08:26:04
@misc{9197179,
  abstract     = {{By 2050, 70% of the global population is projected to live in urban areas, with much of this growth occurring in developing countries where the demand for affordable and accessible housing is not met, resulting in a growing population residing in slums or areas of slum-like conditions. One of the many risks associated with living in slums or areas of slum-like conditions is fires, which are frequent and quickly spread as a result of the proximity of combustible dwellings. This thesis investigates residents' ability to evacuate through simulation using the Pathfinder software. The study was divided into two parts: the first assessed methods for importing slum geometric layouts into Pathfinder by evaluating tools such as Blender, AutoCAD, and FormIt. The second part involved a case study of Saheed Bhagat Singh JJC in Delhi, India. The case study simulated various evacuation scenarios, accounting for population size, blocked exits, and resident behaviours such as extinguishing fires, gathering belongings, and finding relatives. The results showed that narrow passages affect evacuation times, particularly under high population density and counterflows. Due to the lack of reliable input data, such as detailed layouts and behavioural parameters, the simulations offer general insights rather than precise predictions. Before the tool can provide exact evacuation times, there is a need to further collect data on human behaviour in fire evacuation in slum areas to inform calibration of the input parameters of evacuation simulations.}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Ebba}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{LUTVDG/TVBB}},
  title        = {{Simulating evacuation of slums}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}