Douala in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Douala in context

3.244.85.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3.244.85.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
DoualaLittoral (Region)Cameroon (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Douala plotted against Littoral and Cameroon. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Douala's incremental SNDi rose from 4.6 to 5.88 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Douala ranked 2nd out of 3 cities in Littoral and 34th out of 44 in Cameroon as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
5.88
Rank in Cameroon
34th of 44
Rank in Littoral
1st of 3

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
4.17
Rank in Cameroon
34th of 44
Rank in Littoral
2nd of 3

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

What about similarly populated cities?

3456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
DoualaIndoreDamascus

Douala, Indore, and Damascus all built increasingly disconnected streets over time in new street construction. The same pattern holds for the full street network. Douala and Damascus have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.