Medan in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Medan in context

4.24.95.66.3<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
4.24.95.66.3<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MedanSumatera Utara (Region)Indonesia (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Medan plotted against Sumatera Utara and Indonesia. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Medan's incremental SNDi rose from 5.9 to 5.93 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Medan ranked 14th out of 21 cities in Sumatera Utara and 279th out of 366 in Indonesia as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
5.93
Rank in Indonesia
234th of 366
Rank in Sumatera Utara
7th of 21

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
4.87
Rank in Indonesia
279th of 366
Rank in Sumatera Utara
14th of 21

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

What about similarly populated cities?

23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MedanCasablancaKano

In new street additions, Medan built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Casablanca fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Kano built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend.