Caen in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Caen in context

2.533.54<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.533.54<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
CaenNormandie (Region)France (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Caen plotted against Normandie and France. The SNDi of new construction in Caen peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Normandie which peaked in 1976-1990 and France which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Caen's incremental SNDi fell from 2.48 to 2.3 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Caen ranked 3rd out of 4 cities in Normandie and 29th out of 73 in France as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.3
Rank in France
8th of 73
Rank in Normandie
1st of 4

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.39
Rank in France
29th of 73
Rank in Normandie
3rd of 4

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

What about similarly populated cities?

12345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
12345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
CaenElektrostalMairwa

In new street additions, Caen and Mairwa both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Elektrostal built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Caen and Mairwa both grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Elektrostal became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Caen and Mairwa have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.