A Review of the Evolution and Trends in Research on the Emergency Evacuation of Urban Underground Spaces

In recent decades, there has been a significant proliferation of literature pertaining to the evacuation of urban underground spaces. However, few studies have focused on scientometric reviews that identify research topics, evolution patterns, and trends in this field. To bridge this gap, the present study adopted a bibliometric approach by searching the literature related to underground space evacuations in the Web of Science (WOS) core database for the period 1992–2022, from which we visualized and analyzed the issuance status of the country, author, and institution, as well as the cooperation status, using Citespace software. The findings of this paper are as follows: First, there has been a consistent upward trend in the quantity of literature within this field over time. Second, Swedish authors and institutions have made important contributions to the advancement of research in this area. Third, the current research topics are concentrated on themes such as modeling and simulation, smoke control methods, integrative research on factors affecting pedestrian evacuation behavior, pedestrian walking speed under smoke-filled conditions, and the influence of wayfinding devices on exit selection/wayfinding. Finally, to advance the safety in underground spaces, future research trends should include improving basic data, refining simulation model parameters, assessing the evacuation capabilities of special populations, examining the impact of risk perception on evacuation behavior, and conducting specific research on the different risks in underground spaces. The findings may contribute to the managerial development of more comprehensive and effective emergency plans for underground spaces, thereby enhancing the survival rates and safety of pedestrians during disasters or other emergencies.