Matabhanga 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 Matabhanga plotted against West Bengal and India. The SNDi of new construction in Matabhanga followed a zig-zag trend, compared to West Bengal which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and India which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. In terms of the aggregate network, Matabhanga ranked 7th out of 140 cities in West Bengal and 366th 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?

• Zhangbei, China
• Xinshao, China
• Yuanyang, China
• Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir
• Kribi, Cameroon
• Tauranga, New Zealand

In new street additions, Matabhanga fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Zhangbei built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved and Kathua built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. Looking at the full network, Zhangbei and Kathua both became progressively more disconnected, while Matabhanga fluctuated in connectivity.