City planning on the hoof: How the Pamplona bull runners can shape the towns of the future

Those avoiding the bulls in Pamplona every year might be doing more than just running for their lives, reports Graham Keeley in Madrid

Several ‘mozos’ or runners are chased by bulls in Pamplona in 2016 (EPA)

It is one of the sights of the Spanish summer.

Every July, thousands of madcap chancers bet everything that they can just to try and outrun six fighting bulls let loose in the city of Pamplona during a week-long festival.

Millions more watch the San Fermin “running of the bulls” festival live on Spanish TV every year, some perhaps backing the bulls against the humans as the runners dash through the narrow streets of this northern city, trying to avoid being hurt by the creatures.

Dozens are hurt every year and 15 people have lost their lives after being gored on the horns of the bulls since 1910.

For those involved, the run is a question of survival. But the event may have a far more profound significance, according to new research. The runners might, unknowingly, be helping us to plan the cities of the future, according to one academic.

Daniel Parisi, a physicist and computer scientist at the Technical Institute of Buenos Aires, took advantage of one of the few chances in the world to do a live study of a terrified crowd fleeing possible death on the horns of fighting bulls.

He travelled to Pamplona in 2019 to see if this mecca for adrenaline junkies could offer any insight into the psychology of panicking people.

In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of America, Dr Parisi and other researchers described how the way the runners reacted to the bulls might help urban designers, civil engineers and architects plan cities in future.

The results of this study can be used to build cities that potentially avoid lethal crushes when crowds try to escape disasters such as terrorist attacks, fires and floods, by building wider alleys, walkways or roads.

“When there are emergencies, alleyways or other roads may need to be wider so people do not get crushed,” Dr Parisi told The Independent.

Using volunteers to simulate these situations is normally not possible, but Pamplona offers a unique chance when thousands of willing people are willing to risk their lives running through a city.

Dr Parisi, who worked with the University of Navarre, was surprised how runners behaved when faced with the force of a half-tonne bull bearing down on them.

“Normally you find that when people run, they slow down as they get closer to other people to avoid falling over,” he said. “But in the case of Pamplona, it is exactly the opposite. People speed up as they head towards densely packed groups of people running away from the bulls. This is despite the greater risks of falling and getting trampled.”

Deidre Carney, 43, an American writer living in Spain, has run with the bulls at Pamplona at least a dozen times.

She said the vast majority of the runners panic and run into large groups of other people to evade the advancing horns of the bulls.

Dr Parisi filmed the running of the bulls from two different rooftop locations in Pamplona as the animals were released, with the footage showing the crowds rushing forward in a wave as the bulls charged.

Researchers calculated the velocities of the runners, the density of the crowd and the probability of people falling, while also examining the routes taken by the bulls and how different runners responded to the animals.

Dr Parisi found that groups of fast-moving runners are at high risk of falling. Of the 20 people who fell when he filmed the bulls, all slipped over within a crowd.

“Some people who are more experienced know what they are doing and try to get away from people. But most people run into a big cluster,” Carney said. “For the first-time runners and those who have less experience, they just get into a mad panic.”