Saatli 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 Saatli plotted against Aran and Azerbaijan. The SNDi of new construction in Saatli was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Aran which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Azerbaijan which peaked in 1991-2005. Most recently, Saatli's incremental SNDi rose from 4.4 to 4.46 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Saatli ranked 6th out of 7 cities in Aran and 18th out of 20 in Azerbaijan as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Zhouquan, China
• Médina Gounass, Senegal
• Khaki, Afghanistan
• Idama, Nigeria
• Kirundo, Burundi
• Allada, Benin

In new street additions, Saatli and Zhouquan both built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Idama fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Saatli and Zhouquan both became progressively more connected, while Idama became progressively more disconnected. Saatli and Idama have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.