Lubutu 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 Lubutu plotted against Maniema and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The SNDi of new construction in Lubutu was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Maniema 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, Lubutu's incremental SNDi rose from 8.68 to 9.58 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Lubutu ranked 8th out of 9 cities in Maniema and 183rd 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?

• Francistown, Botswana
• Skardu, Azad Kashmir
• Đồng Xoài, Vietnam
• Sarai Mir, India
• Mafara, Nigeria
• Tenggarong, Indonesia

In new street additions, Lubutu built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Francistown built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Sarai Mir built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full network, Lubutu became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards, while Francistown became progressively more disconnected and Sarai Mir grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved.