Leiden in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Leiden in context

1.82.12.42.73<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.12.42.73<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
LeidenZuid-Holland (Region)Netherlands (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Leiden plotted against Zuid-Holland and Netherlands. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Leiden's incremental SNDi fell from 2.34 to 2.3 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Leiden ranked 2nd out of 6 cities in Zuid-Holland and 25th out of 43 in Netherlands as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.3
Rank in Netherlands
26th of 43
Rank in Zuid-Holland
2nd of 6

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
1.95
Rank in Netherlands
25th of 43
Rank in Zuid-Holland
2nd of 6

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
LeidenLalitpurNawada

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