Mechelen in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Mechelen in context

22.533.54<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
22.533.54<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MechelenVlaanderen (Region)Belgium (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Mechelen plotted against Vlaanderen and Belgium. The SNDi of new construction in Mechelen peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Vlaanderen which rose steadily and Belgium which rose steadily. Most recently, Mechelen's incremental SNDi fell from 3.36 to 2.65 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Mechelen ranked 5th out of 9 cities in Vlaanderen and 8th out of 16 in Belgium as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.65
Rank in Belgium
3rd of 16
Rank in Vlaanderen
2nd of 9

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.23
Rank in Belgium
8th of 16
Rank in Vlaanderen
5th of 9

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MechelenManchesterYuanqiao

In new street additions, Mechelen built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Manchester built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Yuanqiao fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Mechelen and Manchester both became progressively more disconnected, while Yuanqiao became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Mechelen and Manchester have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.