Chartres in context: Street-network sprawl trends

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Chartres plotted against Centre-Val de Loire and France. The SNDi of new construction in Chartres peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Centre-Val de Loire which peaked in 1991-2005 and France which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Chartres's incremental SNDi fell from 2.4 to 2.34 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Chartres ranked 1st out of 4 cities in Centre-Val de Loire and 20th out of 73 in France as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Suwa, Japan
• Telde, Spain
• Ventura, United States
• Sharqat, Iraq
• Yanam, India
• Ramtek, India

In new street additions, Chartres built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Suwa fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Sharqat built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Chartres grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Suwa fluctuated in connectivity and Sharqat became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Chartres and Suwa have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.