Thika in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Thika in context

2.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
ThikaKiambu (Region)Kenya (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Thika plotted against Kiambu and Kenya. The SNDi of new construction in Thika followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Kiambu which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Kenya which rose steadily. Most recently, Thika's incremental SNDi rose from 2.91 to 3.52 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Thika ranked 1st out of 3 cities in Kiambu and 13th out of 45 in Kenya as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.52
Rank in Kenya
17th of 45
Rank in Kiambu
1st of 3

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.03
Rank in Kenya
13th of 45
Rank in Kiambu
1st of 3

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

What about similarly populated cities?

22.533.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
22.533.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
ThikaMascaraCambridge

In new street additions, Thika and Mascara both fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Cambridge built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full network, Thika and Mascara both became progressively more disconnected, while Cambridge grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Thika and Cambridge have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.