Mitwaba 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 Mitwaba plotted against Haut-Katanga and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The SNDi of new construction in Mitwaba was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Haut-Katanga which peaked in 1976-1990 and Democratic Republic of the Congo which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Mitwaba's incremental SNDi rose from 1.22 to 2.04 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Mitwaba ranked 6th out of 17 cities in Haut-Katanga and 19th out of 186 in Democratic Republic of the Congo as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Thilawa, Myanmar
• Sesquilé, Colombia
• Kalma Camp, Sudan
• Buco-Zau, Angola
• Recetor, Colombia
• Magwi, South Sudan

In new street additions, Mitwaba built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Thilawa fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Buco-Zau built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Mitwaba became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards, while Thilawa fluctuated in connectivity and Buco-Zau became progressively more disconnected. Mitwaba and Thilawa have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.