The World's Streets Are Becoming Less Connected, Study Shows

"New research from McGill University and the University of California, Santa Cruz has found that the local streets of the world's cities are becoming less connected, a global trend that is driving urban sprawl and discouraging the use of public transportation," according to an article provided by McGill University on the PhysOrg website.

"The new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is the first global history of sprawl as measured by local connectivity of street networks."

Co-author Christopher Barrington-Leigh is quoted in the article explaining the motivation behind the study, which required a seven-year collaboration to build a Street-Network Disconnectedness Index to support a global street connectivity map. The findings show that Asian cities are quickly joining the ranks of the world's most sprawling cities.