Riga in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Riga in context

22.42.83.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
22.42.83.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
RigaLatvia (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Riga plotted against Latvia. Both Riga and Latvia follow the same trend. Most recently, Riga's incremental SNDi rose from 2.36 to 2.54 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Riga ranked 1st out of 2 in Latvia as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.54
Rank in Latvia
2nd of 2

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.02
Rank in Latvia
1st of 2

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
RigaKannurTuxtla Gutierrez

In new street additions, Riga built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Kannur built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Tuxtla Gutiérrez fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Riga and Tuxtla Gutiérrez both became progressively more disconnected, while Kannur became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Riga and Tuxtla Gutiérrez have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.