Everyone wants to feel secure at a festival, a football match, or in a bustling shopping street. With global trends and developments, effective crowd management is crucial. Learn how by closely collaborating with industry partners in the Crowd Safety in Hubs & Events minor.

What is it all about?
The Crowd Safety minor is all about the prevention of accidents and incidents in crowded places. Just think of city centres and parks, railway stations, festivals, but also events, such as Pride Amsterdam, carnival or the Tilburg Fun Fair. The main purpose is to prevent unsafe situations by defining, preparing, researching, analysing and improving the ‘place to be’

Working together with key players in the field
This minor gives you the opportunity to get into contact with key players in the field of safety, such as the Event Safety Institute and GK Still International, who are unparalleled in their knowledge of crowd safety. Dedicated coaches and experts will guide you through this minor. All relevant safety aspects of highly crowded areas will be discussed, and it is up to you to apply all the knowledge gathered in real-life cases. The minor provides a combination of theory and practical experience by means of lectures and challenging international case studies and field trips.

What’s in it for me? 
Nowadays, a lot of attention has already been paid in studies to create experiences. In this minor you will learn how to manage them and to keep them safe! That is a definite value added! Not only if you study Built Environment or Logistics, but also if you want to work in the event sector, the tourism industry, the hotel world or the facility services industry, this minor is a good choice.

Together we contribute to a safer world!

At the end of this minor, you will have:

• a clear understanding of important concepts of Crowd Management and application of crowd modelling
• the ability to discuss application of crowd safety management (with concepts such as planning, licensing and operations) and its relevance to the wider legal, organisational, regulatory and risk management framework
• the ability to discuss appropriate risk assessment methodologies for crowd safety, how they impact on legislation and guidance, and/or what areas of crowd safety need improvement
• the ability to recognise group behaviour and understand causality
• a clear understanding of important concepts of Crowd Management and application of crowd modelling to the chosen event/venue
• the ability to discuss application of crowd safety management (with concepts such as planning, licensing and operations) and its relevance to the wider legal, regulatory and risk management framework
• a clear understanding of important concepts within event logistics and application of logistics analysis, process management and capacity calculation
• a clear understanding of important concepts within mobility and urban design by applying and analysing integral alignment, design and planning processes and urban and spatial design
• the ability to discuss the application of crowd simulations by analysing crowd simulations, applying measuring and monitoring tools, queuing theories and crowd simulations
• the ability to discuss application of stakeholder analysis, procedures and permits, and laws and regulations
• the ability to analyse an event or venue, including four core modelling elements
• the ability to demonstrate an understanding of core principles and applications of the tools. Providing some details of use of models, information they provide, and how they can assist you with risk analysis of crowd dynamics
• the ability to use clear graphics
• the ability to communicate the information about the tools to users and/or team, with the goal to communicate with the audience.

• Minimum of C1 level in English
• Having spatial awareness
• Affinity with numbers
• Propaedeutic certificate obtained

• Applied Crowd Science, Prof Keith Still
• An Introduction to Crowd Science, Prof Keith Still
• Event Logistics, M. van Rijn

Assessment will consist of:

• group products: 50%
• individual products: 50%

Besides, one of these items must score a sufficiency:

• state-of-the-art case studies, (S/I)
• a peer evaluation (S/I)
• your presence during field trips (S/I)

Competencies

This minor provides you with a wide range of competencies. You will: 

• develop skills to prevent accidents from happening
• develop knowledge about practical tools that enables you to assess and analyse risks in crowded areas
• develop a thorough understanding of dynamics behind crowds
• develop modelling and communication skills
• develop more affinity with the topic
• develop your calculating skills
• develop your adaptability to change (in this dynamic world)
• develop an open mind
• be ready for a practical challenge

Topics

The overall goal of this minor is to learn all about the prevention of accidents and incidents in crowded places. This encompasses the following topics:

• crowd management
• crowd control
• risk analysis
• human and crowd behaviour
• stakeholder (management)
• measuring and monitoring
• modelling
• media and communication
• logistics and mobility
• laws and regulations
• crowd simulations 

Structure of the minor

• The minor consists of two parts.
• You will focus on the fundamentals and the theory of crowd science and related topics, such as event logistics, mobility management and crowd simulations. You will join over 40 expert sessions with a specific related topic and you will experience crowds during a lot of field trips.
• You will discuss the theory and a lot of practical situations with state-of-the-art experts from the industry. Group work and independent study is necessary and possible due to the use of digital portals with valuable and extensive information. The focus in this part is on group work. In those cases, you will apply the theory to a real-life situation. The groups will consist of students with various backgrounds.
• At the same time, you will focus on preparing and presenting a theoretical and practical end product.

Teaching methods
The minor is developed as a learning community. You will work with real-life cases, from inside and outside the Netherlands. The learning community will be achieved via the use and involvement of:

• theoretical sessions
• working sessions
• real-life cases
• field trips
• an international field trip

International context
International partners and field trips are involved in this minor. We will also add international case studies to the minor. You can bring an international case study yourself as well.

Costs
Additional costs for this minor will be approx. € 75 for literature and expenses during field trips. Aside from these costs you may take part in an international field trip; the additional costs for this will vary, but will be an estimated € 400.