Leeds in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Leeds 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
LeedsEngland (Region)United Kingdom (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Leeds plotted against England and United Kingdom. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Leeds's incremental SNDi fell from 5.01 to 4.41 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Leeds ranked 32nd out of 124 cities in England and 39th out of 143 in United Kingdom as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.41
Rank in United Kingdom
86th of 143
Rank in England
78th of 124

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.32
Rank in United Kingdom
39th of 143
Rank in England
32nd of 124

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
LeedsPortoHai Phong

In new street additions, Leeds and Porto both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Hải Phòng built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Notably, Leeds had a more sprawly network than Hải Phòng in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.