Cuenca in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Cuenca in context

3.244.85.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3.244.85.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
CuencaAzuay (Region)Ecuador (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Cuenca plotted against Azuay and Ecuador. The SNDi of new construction in Cuenca was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Azuay which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall decrease and Ecuador which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall decrease. Most recently, Cuenca's incremental SNDi rose from 3.37 to 4.15 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Cuenca ranked 1st out of 1 cities in Azuay and 31st out of 34 in Ecuador as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.15
Rank in Ecuador
31st of 34
Rank in Azuay
1st of 1

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.92
Rank in Ecuador
31st of 34
Rank in Azuay
1st of 1

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
CuencaBrightonJingjiang

In new street additions, Cuenca built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Brighton built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Jingjiang built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Looking at the full network, Brighton and Jingjiang both became progressively more disconnected, while Cuenca became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Cuenca and Jingjiang have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.