Human Behavior Modeling

"Solving a problem simply means representing it so as to make the solution transparent"  (Herbert Simon)

Current modeling tools at the disposal of architects, planners, and engineers, often focus on the physical aspects of built environment. They do not represent the mutual influence between built environments and the dynamic behavior of people. As a result, there is a significant gap between expected and actual people's behavior, leading to diminished people's health and performance, as well as excessive consumption of natural resources. At IPL, we develop multi-agent computational models of human behavior to help architects, planners, and engineers, forecast the impact of built environments on people experience, operational efficiency, and space utilization. To achieve this goal, we develop computational models not only "spaces", but also "people", and "activities", as well as their mutual dependencies, integrating existing research in architectural design, social sciences, and operations research. 

Website Images2-47

At the core of this approach is the concept 'Event', computational entities that represent the convergence of 'spaces', 'people', and 'activities' to represent the context-dependent behavior of people in built environments. Events can be organized into 'Narratives', logical sequence of events that represent the unfolding of human behavior patterns comprising of 'planned' events (e.g., scheduled activities), as well as 'unplanned' events (e.g., unscheduled people interactions). A 'narrative manager' coordinates the dynamic unfolding of multiple narratives in the same built environment. 

Website Images2-63

Human behavior modeling and simulation can support the design of new environments as well as the day-to-day management of existing environments. It represents a paradigm shift towards more human-aware design and operations of built environments that support people health, well-being, as well as productivity. It is especially helpful in complex environments, like hospitals or workplaces, where multiple occupants with different goals and needs inhabit the same environments. In this context, human behavior simulation can help identify tradeoffs and explore alternatives strategies to support the decision-making process of architects, planners and engineers. 

Website Images-25

Media

Publications