Examining the effects of exit layout designs on children pedestrians’ exit choice

This study investigates the effects of exit layout designs on children pedestrians’ exit choice under normal and emergency scenarios. A series of controlled experiments was performed with 40 children aged 4–5 years old. The experimental setup included a square room with two exits. Exit designs considering six types of exit layouts were examined. The evacuation performance and the herding effects were quantified by analyzing the extracted trajectories from the video of the experiments. Results revealed that there is a significant influence of exit layouts on both evacuation performance and herding effects. In addition, comparing the results from the first three exit layout designs with the findings from past adults’ exit choice experiments, it was discovered that the herding effects were, in general, more significant in children pedestrians but varied by different exit layouts. The findings of this study could be a valuable resource to architects or planners to plan and design exits for schools or kindergartens.