Southampton in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Southampton in context

3.544.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3.544.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
SouthamptonEngland (Region)United Kingdom (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Southampton plotted against England and United Kingdom. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Southampton's incremental SNDi fell from 4.29 to 3.66 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Southampton ranked 54th out of 124 cities in England and 62nd out of 143 in United Kingdom as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.66
Rank in United Kingdom
43rd of 143
Rank in England
38th of 124

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.5
Rank in United Kingdom
62nd of 143
Rank in England
54th of 124

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
SouthamptonRatlamBelgorod

While Ratlam and Belgorod both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Southampton built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved in new street additions. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Southampton and Ratlam have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.