Sharqat 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 Sharqat plotted against Sala ad-Din and Iraq. The SNDi of new construction in Sharqat was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Sala ad-Din which peaked in 1976-1990 and Iraq which peaked in 1976-1990. Most recently, Sharqat's incremental SNDi rose from 3.08 to 3.51 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Sharqat ranked 6th out of 10 cities in Sala ad-Din and 68th out of 86 in Iraq as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Chartres, France
• Suwa, Japan
• Telde, Spain
• Yanam, India
• Ramtek, India
• Toliara, Madagascar

In new street additions, Sharqat built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Chartres built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Yanam built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Sharqat became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards, while Chartres grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved and Yanam became progressively more disconnected. Sharqat and Chartres have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.