The challenge of controlling crowd movement at large events expands not only to the realm
of emergency evacuations but also to improving non-critical conditions related to operational
efficiency and comfort. In both cases, it becomes necessary to develop adaptive crowd motion
control systems. In particular, adaptive cell-based crowd evacuation systems dynamically
generate exit-choice recommendations favoring a coordinated group dynamic that improves
safety and evacuation time. We investigate the viability of using this mechanism to develop
a ‘‘leader-follower’’ evacuation system in which a trained evacuation staff guides evacuees
safely to the exit gates. To validate the proposal, we use a simulation–optimization framework
integrating microscopic simulation. Evacuees’ behavior has been modeled using a three-layered
architecture that includes eligibility, exit-choice changing, and exit-choice models, calibrated
with hypothetical-choice experiments. As a significant contribution of this work, the proposed
behavior models capture the influence of leaders on evacuees, which is translated into exitchoice
decisions and the adaptation of speed. This influence can be easily modulated to evaluate
the evacuation efficiency under different evacuation scenarios and evacuees’ behavior profiles.
When measuring the efficiency of the evacuation processes, particular attention has been paid
to safety by using pedestrian Macroscopic Fundamental Diagrams (p-MFD), which model the
crowd movement dynamics from a macroscopic perspective. The spatiotemporal view of the
evacuation performance in the form of crowd-pressure vs. density values allowed us to evaluate
and compare safety in different evacuation scenarios reasonably and consistently. Experimental
results confirm the viability of using adaptive cell-based crowd evacuation systems as a guidance
tool to be used by evacuation staff to guide evacuees. Interestingly, we found that evacuation
staff motion speed plays a crucial role in balancing egress time and safety. Thus, it is expected
that by instructing evacuation staff to move at a predefined speed, we can reach the desired
balance between evacuation time, accident probability, and comfort
