Lancaster in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Lancaster 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
LancasterEngland (Region)United Kingdom (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Lancaster plotted against England and United Kingdom. The SNDi of new construction in Lancaster rose steadily, compared to England which peaked in 1991-2005 and United Kingdom which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Lancaster's incremental SNDi rose from 4.18 to 4.62 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Lancaster ranked 12th out of 124 cities in England and 14th out of 143 in United Kingdom as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.62
Rank in United Kingdom
96th of 143
Rank in England
86th of 124

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.0
Rank in United Kingdom
14th of 143
Rank in England
12th of 124

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2468<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2468<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
LancasterBrantfordDigboi

In new street additions, Lancaster and Digboi both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Brantford built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Lancaster and Digboi have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.