Ghent in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Ghent in context

2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
GhentVlaanderen (Region)Belgium (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Ghent plotted against Vlaanderen and Belgium. The SNDi of new construction in Ghent peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Vlaanderen which rose steadily and Belgium which rose steadily. Most recently, Ghent's incremental SNDi fell from 4.07 to 3.73 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Ghent ranked 7th out of 9 cities in Vlaanderen and 11th out of 16 in Belgium as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.73
Rank in Belgium
11th of 16
Rank in Vlaanderen
6th of 9

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.36
Rank in Belgium
11th of 16
Rank in Vlaanderen
7th of 9

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2468<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2468<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
GhentNassauWuchuan

In new street additions, Ghent built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Nassau built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Wuchuan fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Ghent and Nassau have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.