In this paper, we propose a framework for modeling lower‐level pedestrian navigational behaviors. We aim not only to generate realistic simulation results but also to make our framework flexible and extendible, and easy to use for model developers. A divide‐and‐conquer methodology is first adopted to divide the complex navigational behaviors into three levels, which allows us to focus on the intermediate level. We then propose a pattern‐based framework for modeling pedestrian navigational behavior at this level. In our framework, spatial‐temporal patterns are used to represent the situational perception, and a pattern‐matching mechanism is proposed to model the navigational choices of individual pedestrians. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework, a computational model is constructed to simulate pedestrian behaviors in a corridor with medium to relatively high density of pedestrians. Simulation results with this model are summarized in this paper. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.