Napier in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Napier in context

2.83.54.24.9<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.83.54.24.9<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
NapierHawke's Bay (Region)New Zealand (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Napier plotted against Hawke's Bay and New Zealand. The SNDi of new construction in Napier followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Hawke's Bay which peaked in 1991-2005 and New Zealand which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Napier's incremental SNDi fell from 4.48 to 3.21 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Napier ranked 1st out of 1 cities in Hawke's Bay and 3rd out of 9 in New Zealand as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.21
Rank in New Zealand
2nd of 9
Rank in Hawke's Bay
1st of 1

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.03
Rank in New Zealand
3rd of 9
Rank in Hawke's Bay
1st of 1

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

What about similarly populated cities?

246<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
246<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
NapierSchwerinShambu

In new street additions, Napier fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Schwerin built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved and Shambu fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. Looking at the full network, Schwerin and Shambu both became progressively more disconnected, while Napier became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Napier and Shambu have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.