Cotonou in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Cotonou in context

2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
CotonouAtlantique (Region)Benin (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Cotonou plotted against Atlantique and Benin. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Cotonou's incremental SNDi rose from 3.52 to 4.01 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Cotonou ranked 3rd out of 3 cities in Atlantique and 24th out of 24 in Benin as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.01
Rank in Benin
22nd of 24
Rank in Atlantique
3rd of 3

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.43
Rank in Benin
24th of 24
Rank in Atlantique
3rd of 3

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.533.54<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.533.54<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
CotonouXiamen CityLubumbashi

In new street additions, Cotonou fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Xiamen City built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Lubumbashi built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Notably, Cotonou had a more connected network than Xiamen City in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.