Aberdeen in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Aberdeen in context

2.83.54.24.9<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.83.54.24.9<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
AberdeenScotland (Region)United Kingdom (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Aberdeen plotted against Scotland and United Kingdom. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Aberdeen's incremental SNDi fell from 3.37 to 3.22 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Aberdeen ranked 1st out of 11 cities in Scotland and 1st out of 143 in United Kingdom as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.22
Rank in United Kingdom
19th of 143
Rank in Scotland
4th of 11

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.63
Rank in United Kingdom
1st of 143
Rank in Scotland
1st of 11

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
AberdeenPembaGrays

Aberdeen, Pemba, and Grays all built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved in new street construction. For the full network, Aberdeen and Pemba both became progressively more disconnected, while Grays grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Aberdeen and Pemba have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.