Tshimbulu 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 Tshimbulu plotted against Kasaï-Central and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The SNDi of new construction in Tshimbulu peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Kasaï-Central which rose steadily and Democratic Republic of the Congo which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Tshimbulu's incremental SNDi fell from 3.22 to 1.63 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Tshimbulu ranked 2nd out of 6 cities in Kasaï-Central and 135th 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?

• Jinfeng, China
• Nyaungdon, Myanmar
• Thul, Pakistan
• Xipeng, China
• Negele, Ethiopia
• Teófilo Otoni, Brazil

In new street additions, Tshimbulu and Xipeng both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Jinfeng built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Tshimbulu and Xipeng both grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Jinfeng fluctuated in connectivity. Tshimbulu and Xipeng have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.