Skardu 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 Skardu plotted against Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Skardu's incremental SNDi rose from 3.16 to 4.25 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Skardu ranked 1st out of 2 cities in Gilgit-Baltistan and 1st out of 6 in Azad Kashmir as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Đồng Xoài, Vietnam
• Igbeti, Nigeria
• Ponggok, Indonesia
• Francistown, Botswana
• Lubutu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Sarai Mir, India

While Đồng Xoài and Francistown both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Skardu built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns in new street additions. Looking at the full network, Đồng Xoài and Francistown both became progressively more disconnected, while Skardu became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Notably, Skardu had a more sprawly network than Đồng Xoài in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.