Kirumba 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 Kirumba plotted against Nord-Kivu and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The SNDi of new construction in Kirumba was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Nord-Kivu 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, Kirumba's incremental SNDi rose from 4.37 to 6.44 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Kirumba ranked 11th out of 16 cities in Nord-Kivu and 152nd 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?

• Bridgetown, Barbados
• Yichuan, China
• Houma, China
• Dambidollo, Ethiopia
• Narkatiaganj, India
• Mahajanga, Madagascar

In new street additions, Kirumba built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Bridgetown built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Dambidollo fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. Looking at the full network, Bridgetown and Dambidollo both became progressively more disconnected, while Kirumba became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Kirumba and Bridgetown have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.