London in context: Street-network sprawl trends

London 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
LondonOntario (Region)Canada (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with London plotted against Ontario and Canada. The SNDi of new construction in London peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Ontario which peaked in 1976-1990 and Canada which peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, London's incremental SNDi fell from 4.39 to 3.81 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, London ranked 21st out of 24 cities in Ontario and 42nd out of 54 in Canada as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.81
Rank in Canada
38th of 54
Rank in Ontario
19th of 24

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.1
Rank in Canada
42nd of 54
Rank in Ontario
21st of 24

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
LondonRaiwindDashiqiao

In new street additions, London built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Raiwind built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Dashiqiao fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend.