Sunderland in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Sunderland in context

3.64.24.85.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3.64.24.85.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
SunderlandEngland (Region)United Kingdom (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Sunderland plotted against England and United Kingdom. The SNDi of new construction in Sunderland followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to England which peaked in 1991-2005 and United Kingdom which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Sunderland's incremental SNDi rose from 4.73 to 5.41 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Sunderland ranked 55th out of 124 cities in England and 63rd out of 143 in United Kingdom as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
5.41
Rank in United Kingdom
120th of 143
Rank in England
106th of 124

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.51
Rank in United Kingdom
63rd of 143
Rank in England
55th of 124

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

What about similarly populated cities?

34567<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
34567<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
SunderlandSahibganjKendrapara

While Sahibganj and Kendrapara both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Sunderland fluctuated in its street-construction patterns in new street additions. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Sunderland and Sahibganj have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.