Ain Sefra in context: Street-network sprawl trends

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Ain Sefra plotted against Naâma and Algeria. The SNDi of new construction in Ain Sefra was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Naâma which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Algeria which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall decrease. Most recently, Ain Sefra's incremental SNDi rose from 2.15 to 2.32 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Ain Sefra ranked 2nd out of 2 cities in Naâma and 53rd out of 109 in Algeria as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Laxmangarh, India
• Alessandria, Italy
• Heyang, China
• Sheraro, Ethiopia
• Guaíba, Brazil
• Kakina, Bangladesh

In new street additions, Ain Sefra built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Laxmangarh fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Sheraro built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Ain Sefra became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards, while Laxmangarh became progressively more disconnected and Sheraro became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Notably, Ain Sefra had a more sprawly network than Laxmangarh in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.