Dilolo 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 Dilolo plotted against Lualaba and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The SNDi of new construction in Dilolo was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Lualaba 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, Dilolo's incremental SNDi rose from 1.55 to 1.83 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Dilolo ranked 1st out of 11 cities in Lualaba and 14th 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?

• Birigui, Brazil
• Kiratpur, India
• Geoje-si, South Korea
• Mahdishahr, Iran
• Paechon, North Korea
• Jamshoro, Pakistan

In new street additions, Dilolo built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Birigui built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Mahdishahr built increasingly connected streets over time. For the full network, Dilolo became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards, while Birigui became progressively more disconnected and Mahdishahr became progressively more connected. Dilolo and Birigui have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.