Mutabi 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 Mutabi plotted against Haut-Katanga and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The SNDi of new construction in Mutabi peaked 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, Mutabi's incremental SNDi fell from 6.78 to 1.42 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Mutabi ranked 13th out of 17 cities in Haut-Katanga and 111th 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?

• Rogo Sabon Gari, Nigeria
• Voskresensk, Russia
• Cibitoke, Burundi
• Sédhiou, Senegal
• Mubende, Uganda
• Namialo, Mozambique

In new street additions, Mutabi and Rogo Sabon Gari both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Sédhiou built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Mutabi and Rogo Sabon Gari have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.