Balato 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 Balato plotted against Kankan and Guinea. The SNDi of new construction in Balato was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Kankan which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Guinea which rose steadily. Most recently, Balato's incremental SNDi rose from 1.09 to 1.12 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Balato ranked 1st out of 8 cities in Kankan and 1st out of 24 in Guinea as of 2020.

Rankings go from most connected to most disconnected — rank 1 is the most connected.

What about similarly populated cities?

• Mado Gashi, Kenya
• Sètiguiya, Guinea
• Trapeang Prasat, Cambodia
• Misisi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Balo-i, Philippines
• Chato, Tanzania

In new street additions, Balato and Misisi both built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Mado Gashi fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Balato and Misisi both became progressively more connected, while Mado Gashi fluctuated in connectivity. Balato and Mado Gashi have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.