Real-Time Monitoring of Visitor Carrying Capacity in Crowded Historic Streets Through Digital Technologies

Abstract

This paper addresses methodological issues related to the identification and monitoring of visitor overcrowding and congestion situations in historic centres. Once the visitor carrying capacity was estimated for public spaces, taking into consideration the standards of quality and comfort for visitor experience and those related to the desired conditions for heritage assets’ conservation, digital real-time monitoring tools were implemented in an experimental urban area in Valencia, Spain, in order to know, through the establishment of proxemic triggers, when the standards were violated (or may soon be violated); then, the carrying capacity was exceeded, and management actions may be required. The results show that these digital monitoring tools are very efficient and accurate in micro-scale public spaces, user-friendly and affordably priced.