In the opening chapter it was argued that the perspective this book takes on crowds is from the complexity theory. A crowd is complex as each individual is a free agent and, in a crowd, responds to the people near them. Instantaneously, their attitudes and behaviours affect that individual. Hence it is the relationships between the people that create crowd behaviour. This is beyond complicated, because the causes and effects are immersed in multiple behaviours and attitudes that are moving and developing. Managing risks in this environment requires models and processes that push traditional management processes to the boundary. Before moving onto the methodologies for managing risk it is worth noting some of the drivers. The 21st Century multi-polar, hyper-connected, social media driven, fast paced world in which we live presents an environment in which we need to understand and master complexities and uncertainties on a scale never before encountered by the average person.
