Dortmund in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Dortmund in context

2.42.83.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.42.83.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
DortmundNordrhein-Westfalen (Region)Germany (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Dortmund plotted against Nordrhein-Westfalen and Germany. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Dortmund's incremental SNDi rose from 2.97 to 3.12 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Dortmund ranked 16th out of 24 cities in Nordrhein-Westfalen and 84th out of 99 in Germany as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.12
Rank in Germany
70th of 99
Rank in Nordrhein-Westfalen
18th of 24

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.36
Rank in Germany
84th of 99
Rank in Nordrhein-Westfalen
16th of 24

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.533.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.533.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
DortmundWinnipegVolgograd

In new street additions, Dortmund and Winnipeg both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Volgograd built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Dortmund and Winnipeg have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.