Al-Hirah in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Al-Hirah in context

22.42.83.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
22.42.83.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Al-HirahAl-Qadisiyah (Region)Iraq (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Al-Hirah plotted against Al-Qadisiyah and Iraq. The SNDi of new construction in Al-Hirah was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Al-Qadisiyah which was at its lowest in 1991-2005 and Iraq which peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, Al-Hirah's incremental SNDi rose from 2.15 to 2.69 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Al-Hirah ranked 3rd out of 6 cities in Al-Qadisiyah and 30th out of 86 in Iraq as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.69
Rank in Iraq
38th of 86
Rank in Al-Qadisiyah
3rd of 6

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.39
Rank in Iraq
30th of 86
Rank in Al-Qadisiyah
3rd of 6

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

What about similarly populated cities?

0.91.82.73.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
0.91.82.73.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Al-HirahJubaytFangcheng

In new street additions, Al-Hirah built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Jubayt fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Fangcheng built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full network, Al-Hirah became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards, while Jubayt became progressively more connected and Fangcheng grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Notably, Al-Hirah had a more connected network than Jubayt in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.