Towards a human-centric city emergency response: Modelling activity patterns of urban population

Human-centric management is emerging as a new trend in urban emergency response, which develops management and resource allocation strategies based on activity patterns of urban population and their derived demands. This study aims to construct an MDCEV-based model to capture the activity patternss of different types of residents during urban emergencies. Using a case study in Shanghai, China, the study calibrates and validates the model using resident survey data. In addition, we conducted scenario analyses to explore the impact of promoting community service participation, remote work experiences, and various working patterns on residents’ activity patterns. The research discusses the heterogeneity of time allocation patterns among different resident types in urban emergency management contexts and highlights the influence of external interventions on resident activities. Our findings contribute to the development of supporting measures for vulnerable residents and human-centric city emergency response strategies. Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.