Harlow in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Harlow in context

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
HarlowEngland (Region)United Kingdom (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Harlow plotted against England and United Kingdom. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Harlow's incremental SNDi fell from 4.26 to 2.34 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Harlow ranked 5th out of 124 cities in England and 7th out of 143 in United Kingdom as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.34
Rank in United Kingdom
3rd of 143
Rank in England
3rd of 124

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.79
Rank in United Kingdom
7th of 143
Rank in England
5th of 124

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

What about similarly populated cities?

4812<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
4812<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
HarlowMalakanagiriUgborodo

In new street additions, Harlow built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Malakanagiri built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Ugborodo fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Harlow grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Malakanagiri became progressively more disconnected and Ugborodo grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Harlow and Malakanagiri have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.