Brussels in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Brussels in context

1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BrusselsBruxelles (Region)Belgium (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Brussels plotted against Bruxelles and Belgium. The SNDi of new construction in Brussels peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Bruxelles which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Belgium which rose steadily. Most recently, Brussels's incremental SNDi fell from 2.6 to 2.49 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Brussels ranked 1st out of 1 cities in Bruxelles and 1st out of 16 in Belgium as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.49
Rank in Belgium
2nd of 16
Rank in Bruxelles
1st of 1

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
1.55
Rank in Belgium
1st of 16
Rank in Bruxelles
1st of 1

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

What about similarly populated cities?

12345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
12345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BrusselsVijayawadaWuhu

In new street additions, Brussels built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Vijayawada built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Wuhu built increasingly connected streets over time. For the full network, Brussels and Vijayawada both became progressively more disconnected, while Wuhu fluctuated in connectivity. Brussels and Vijayawada have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.