Mahdasht 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 Mahdasht plotted against Alborz and Iran. The SNDi of new construction in Mahdasht followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Alborz which was at its lowest in 1976-1990 and Iran which rose steadily. Most recently, Mahdasht's incremental SNDi fell from 4.69 to 4.22 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Mahdasht ranked 5th out of 7 cities in Alborz and 149th out of 169 in Iran as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Peñon del Rodadero, Colombia
• Huamantla, México
• Myaungtagar, Myanmar
• Ningming, China
• Segamat, Malaysia
• Yichezhen, China

While Peñon del Rodadero and Ningming both fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, Mahdasht fluctuated in its street-construction patterns in new street additions. Looking at the full network, Peñon del Rodadero and Ningming both became progressively more disconnected, while Mahdasht became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Mahdasht and Peñon del Rodadero have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.