Neqab 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 Neqab plotted against Razavi Khorasan and Iran. The SNDi of new construction in Neqab was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Razavi Khorasan which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Iran which rose steadily. Most recently, Neqab's incremental SNDi rose from 2.78 to 3.23 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Neqab ranked 9th out of 9 cities in Razavi Khorasan and 131st 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?

• Sheberghan, Afghanistan
• Breda, Netherlands
• Kebri Dehar, Ethiopia
• Longchuan, China
• Godda, India
• Yambio, South Sudan

In new street additions, Neqab built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Sheberghan fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Longchuan built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Neqab became progressively more connected, while Sheberghan fluctuated in connectivity and Longchuan became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Neqab and Sheberghan have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.