Modelling and simulating the dynamics of crowd movement within the complex built
environment such as a city centre is an evolutionary, processing research task.
Recent methodological and theoretical advances have provided the opportunity to
explore and provide answers to various crucial problems on land use mix. Daily in our
urban settlements we seek for resources and attractions. Our search behaviour is
complex and emergent, related to urban morphology and land use patterns as this is
generated by our daily movement and activities. This report discusses a pedestrian
movement study which examines the ways pedestrian behaviour and flows affect and
are affected by the formation of the built environment and the land uses. The focus is
in retailing uses and especially shopping. For the formulation of the model, an agent
based simulation approach is adapted based on object oriented analysis and
programming. Agents are given long distance vision and direct their movement and
behaviour in response to the information retreat from their vision field, morphology of
the local environment, and their individual desire for retail or exploration of the area.
The simulations are used to extract meaningful conclusions on the pedestrian
behaviour and factors that have an impact on it. Various formations of retail location
patterns in a 7 x 7 grid are explored and three different approaches of agents’
behaviour are used in order to get meaningful conclusions
