Lilongwe in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Lilongwe 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
LilongweMalawi (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Lilongwe plotted against Malawi. Both Lilongwe and Malawi follow the same trend. Most recently, Lilongwe's incremental SNDi rose from 2.95 to 3.42 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Lilongwe ranked 5th out of 8 in Malawi as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.42
Rank in Malawi
5th of 8

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.71
Rank in Malawi
5th of 8

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

What about similarly populated cities?

34567<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
34567<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
LilongweSukkurGeorge Town

Lilongwe, Sukkur, and George Town all built increasingly disconnected streets over time in new street construction. The same pattern holds for the full street network. Lilongwe and Sukkur have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.