Cheltenham in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Cheltenham in context

33.64.24.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
33.64.24.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
CheltenhamEngland (Region)United Kingdom (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Cheltenham plotted against England and United Kingdom. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Cheltenham's incremental SNDi fell from 4.38 to 3.43 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Cheltenham ranked 26th out of 124 cities in England and 32nd out of 143 in United Kingdom as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.43
Rank in United Kingdom
22nd of 143
Rank in England
18th of 124

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.21
Rank in United Kingdom
32nd of 143
Rank in England
26th of 124

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

What about similarly populated cities?

3456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
CheltenhamBulukumbaNewport

In new street additions, Cheltenham built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Bulukumba fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Newport built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Cheltenham and Bulukumba have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.