Tshilenge 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 Tshilenge plotted against Kasaï-Oriental and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The SNDi of new construction in Tshilenge was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Kasaï-Oriental which rose steadily and Democratic Republic of the Congo which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Tshilenge's incremental SNDi rose from 1.43 to 3.01 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Tshilenge ranked 1st out of 4 cities in Kasaï-Oriental and 7th 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?

• Nansang, Myanmar
• Akabuka, Nigeria
• Farkhor, Tajikistan
• Ra's Tannurah, Saudi Arabia
• Neuchâtel, Switzerland
• Eskilstuna, Sweden

In new street additions, Tshilenge built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Nansang fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Ra's Tannurah built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Tshilenge became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards, while Nansang fluctuated in connectivity and Ra's Tannurah became progressively more disconnected. Tshilenge and Ra's Tannurah have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.