Studying pedestrian’s personal space in mass religious gatherings a case study of Kumbh Mela

Abstract

Personal space can be defined as the physical distance between two individuals in a social environment. Studying personal space includes the ability to recognize the various zones of involvement and the activities, relationships, and emotions associate with each zone. This paper tries to formulate and define personal space in high density crowd situations in Kumbh Mela, one of the world’s largest mass religious gatherings. It is found that the average speed of the individual, the group size, and the gender ratio of group members have a significant effect on the personal space of an individual.