Mosul in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Mosul in context

2.42.83.23.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.42.83.23.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MosulNinawa (Region)Iraq (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Mosul plotted against Ninawa and Iraq. The SNDi of new construction in Mosul rose steadily, compared to Ninawa which peaked in 1991-2005 and Iraq which peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, Mosul's incremental SNDi rose from 3.18 to 3.53 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Mosul ranked 5th out of 12 cities in Ninawa and 57th out of 86 in Iraq as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.53
Rank in Iraq
71st of 86
Rank in Ninawa
7th of 12

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.76
Rank in Iraq
57th of 86
Rank in Ninawa
5th of 12

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MosulPurwokertoLeon

In new street additions, Mosul built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Purwokerto built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved and León fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Mosul and Purwokerto have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.