Newcastle in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Newcastle in context

3.244.85.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3.244.85.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
NewcastleNew South Wales (Region)Australia (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Newcastle plotted against New South Wales and Australia. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Newcastle's incremental SNDi fell from 5.49 to 4.36 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Newcastle ranked 2nd out of 6 cities in New South Wales and 13th out of 35 in Australia as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.36
Rank in Australia
26th of 35
Rank in New South Wales
5th of 6

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.35
Rank in Australia
13th of 35
Rank in New South Wales
2nd of 6

Rankings go from most connected to most disconnected — rank 1 is the most connected.

What about similarly populated cities?

2.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
NewcastleAnxiPhenhara

While Anxi and Phenhara both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Newcastle built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved in new street additions. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Newcastle and Anxi have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.