Lwebo 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 Lwebo plotted against Kasaï and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The SNDi of new construction in Lwebo rose steadily, compared to Kasaï which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Democratic Republic of the Congo which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Lwebo's incremental SNDi rose from 5.5 to 5.92 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Lwebo ranked 5th out of 10 cities in Kasaï and 93rd 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?

• Pithapuram, India
• Jogīkuti, Nepal
• Gende Woin, Ethiopia
• Jinxi, China
• Trelew, Argentina
• Welenchete, Ethiopia

In new street additions, Lwebo built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Pithapuram built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Jinxi fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Lwebo and Pithapuram both became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards, while Jinxi fluctuated in connectivity. Lwebo and Jinxi have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.