Mongbwalu 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 Mongbwalu plotted against Ituri and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The SNDi of new construction in Mongbwalu was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Ituri which was at its lowest in 1976-1990 and Democratic Republic of the Congo which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Mongbwalu's incremental SNDi rose from 3.77 to 4.49 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Mongbwalu ranked 5th out of 8 cities in Ituri and 132nd 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?

• Taihe, China
• Abadan, Iran
• Kharupetia, India
• Mbanza-Ngungu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Taungoo, Myanmar
• Kulaura, Bangladesh

In new street additions, Mongbwalu and Taihe both built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Mbanza-Ngungu built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Mongbwalu became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards, while Taihe became progressively more connected and Mbanza-Ngungu became progressively more disconnected. Mongbwalu and Taihe have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.