Savalou 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 Savalou plotted against Collines and Benin. The SNDi of new construction in Savalou was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Collines which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Benin which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Savalou's incremental SNDi rose from 2.55 to 3.3 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Savalou ranked 4th out of 4 cities in Collines and 21st out of 24 in Benin as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Kafr Yasif, Israel
• Prokhladny, Russia
• Sherpao, Pakistan
• Old Harbour, Jamaica
• Cheeka, India
• Yushe, China

While Kafr Yasif and Old Harbour both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Savalou built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns in new street additions. Looking at the full network, Kafr Yasif and Old Harbour both became progressively more disconnected, while Savalou became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Savalou and Kafr Yasif have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.