Nanaimo in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Nanaimo in context

2.83.54.24.9<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.83.54.24.9<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
NanaimoBritish Columbia (Region)Canada (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Nanaimo plotted against British Columbia and Canada. The SNDi of new construction in Nanaimo followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to British Columbia which peaked in 1976-1990 and Canada which peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, Nanaimo's incremental SNDi rose from 4.09 to 4.9 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Nanaimo ranked 8th out of 8 cities in British Columbia and 51st out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.9
Rank in Canada
48th of 54
Rank in British Columbia
7th of 8

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.46
Rank in Canada
51st of 54
Rank in British Columbia
8th of 8

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
NanaimoIidaJinggu

In new street additions, Nanaimo and Jinggu both fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Iida built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full network, Nanaimo and Iida both became progressively more disconnected, while Jinggu fluctuated in connectivity. Nanaimo and Jinggu have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.