Solutions to increase the speed of emergency evacuation of population in underground public spaces (Case study: Metro stations)

Background and objective: Public spaces such as metro stations are one of the most important elements of the citychr('39')s spatial construction. People from different classes and ages are present in these spaces and social and service activities are taking place in it. And people from different walks of life come to it and social and service activities take place in it. Underground subway stations are one of the main components of the urban transportation system and connect the underground and above ground space of this public transport fleet. Underground subway stations are very important and sensitive for various reasons, such as the accumulation of passengers. So reducing human casualties and injuries during natural hazard such as earthquakes and man-made disaster such as fire is one of the priorities of designers and users of these spaces. Accordingly, the present study has been developed with the aim of reducing casualties and injuries in emergencies and by providing solutions to increase the rate of evacuation. Method: The present study is among the applied research (developmental type) and to achieve the defined goals, descriptive method (content analysis) was selected as the research method. Also, library and field methods were used to collect information and qualitative method of content analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings: Awareness time, reaction time and departure time are considered as three effective time components in the total evacuation time of underground subway stations. The values ​​of these three components will be different according to the physical and managerial design conditions of each station and providing solutions that reduce each of these times will reduce the total evacuation time. Among the solutions that were obtained in the present study, as follows: "reduce the distance of the farthest point of the platform from the stairs", "fit the number of entrances - exits with the volume of passengers", "how to design communication paths", "proper placement of non-structural elements", "use of signs The guide noted the ability to navigate in the dark "and develop an emergency response plan." Conclusion: Based on the results of the research, 11 executive solutions are being designed in metro stations and 9 executive solutions can be implemented in operating stations to increase the speed of emergency evacuation. In this solutions, "emergency response planning" is a solution that is effective in reducing awareness time, response time and movement time without the need for physical changes in the elements of the station. Also, among the physical solutions, "proper design of communication routes", "use of guided signs with the ability to navigate in the dark" and "reducing the distance of the farthest point of the platform from the stairs", are solutions that are effective in reducing reaction time and movement time.