Iquique 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 Iquique plotted against Tarapacá and Chile. The SNDi of new construction in Iquique peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Tarapacá which peaked in 1991-2005 and Chile which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Iquique's incremental SNDi fell from 6.2 to 4.35 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Iquique ranked 1st out of 1 cities in Tarapacá and 38th out of 38 in Chile as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Monclova, México
• Hazaribagh, India
• Limeira, Brazil
• Ekma, India
• Shehong, China
• Yanshi District, China

In new street additions, Iquique and Ekma both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Monclova built increasingly disconnected streets over time. Looking at the full network, Monclova and Ekma both became progressively more disconnected, while Iquique grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Notably, Iquique had a more connected network than Ekma in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.