People flow

People flow is relatively new term used to describe the movement of pedestrians in different environments under different circumstances and at different scales. The term has perhaps historically been used to refer to the transit of populations between different geographical regions, but has now come to be used also in the context of urban planning, public space and the urban realm as well as circulation within or between buildings.

Whilst the term is less common in formal dictionaries, IGI Global a leading independent academic publisher of scientific research defines the term as "a physical quantity representing the number of people passing through a certain passage per unit time".

An industry perhaps considered as one of the proponents of the term are manufacturers of vertical transport systems such as elevators, lifts or escalators. Increasing the efficiency of such systems relies on an understanding of how occupants move around buildings of more than one levels, but also within individual levels.

In terms of the urban planning people flow might be used synonymously or as a derivation of pedestrian flow, footfall, walkshed, or circulation. It describes how people move around spaces, access areas, interact and occupy those areas, externally and internally.

Within buildings it can be important to know, for example which way people tend to turn when they walk into a shop. It can also be useful in evacuation planning.

As accessibility, security as well as observation technology within cities and buildings increases, the term may also be used in connection with barriers, mobility, public infrasructure, thermal imaging, CCTV, observation, face recognition and Smart cities.

The development of mobile devices has made it easier to track people flow, for example by offering free wifi, the terms and conditions of which allow operators to record subscriber's locations.