Al-Najaf in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Al-Najaf in context

2.42.733.3<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.42.733.3<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Al-NajafAn-Najaf (Region)Iraq (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Al-Najaf plotted against An-Najaf and Iraq. The SNDi of new construction in Al-Najaf followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to An-Najaf which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall decrease and Iraq which peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, Al-Najaf's incremental SNDi rose from 2.23 to 2.57 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Al-Najaf ranked 1st out of 2 cities in An-Najaf and 38th out of 86 in Iraq as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.57
Rank in Iraq
32nd of 86
Rank in An-Najaf
1st of 2

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.46
Rank in Iraq
38th of 86
Rank in An-Najaf
1st of 2

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.433.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Al-NajafSan Luis PotosiPorto

In new street additions, Al-Najaf fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while San Luis Potosí built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Porto built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Looking at the full network, San Luis Potosí and Porto both became progressively more disconnected, while Al-Najaf fluctuated in connectivity. Notably, Al-Najaf had a more sprawly network than San Luis Potosí in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.