Lanka 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 Lanka plotted against Assam and India. The SNDi of new construction in Lanka was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Assam which rose steadily and India which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Lanka's incremental SNDi rose from 2.25 to 4.68 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Lanka ranked 24th out of 67 cities in Assam and 797th out of 1868 in India as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Pushkin, Russia
• Kabanjahe, Indonesia
• Aku, Nigeria
• Bagé, Brazil
• خان آباد, Afghanistan
• Kanyabayonga, Democratic Republic of the Congo

In new street additions, Lanka built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Pushkin built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved and Bagé fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. Looking at the full network, Pushkin and Bagé both became progressively more disconnected, while Lanka became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards.