Athens in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Athens in context

1.42.12.83.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.42.12.83.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
AthensAttica (Region)Greece (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Athens plotted against Attica and Greece. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Athens's incremental SNDi rose from 2.14 to 2.45 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Athens ranked 1st out of 1 cities in Attica and 1st out of 8 in Greece as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.45
Rank in Greece
3rd of 8
Rank in Attica
1st of 1

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
1.36
Rank in Greece
1st of 8
Rank in Attica
1st of 1

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
AthensNanchangBusan

In new street additions, Athens and Nanchang both fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Busan built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Athens and Busan both became progressively more disconnected, while Nanchang fluctuated in connectivity. Athens and Busan have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.