Baghdad in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Baghdad in context

2.42.83.23.64<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.42.83.23.64<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BaghdadIraq (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Baghdad plotted against Iraq. The SNDi of new construction in Baghdad rose steadily, while Iraq peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, Baghdad's incremental SNDi rose from 3.5 to 3.93 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Baghdad ranked 58th out of 86 in Iraq as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.93
Rank in Iraq
78th of 86

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.82
Rank in Iraq
58th of 86

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.533.54<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.533.54<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
BaghdadAlexandriaDar es-Salaam

In new street additions, Baghdad and Alexandria both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Dar es-Salaam built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Baghdad and Alexandria have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.