Mzuzu in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Mzuzu in context

2.433.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MzuzuMzimba (Region)Malawi (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Mzuzu plotted against Mzimba and Malawi. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Mzuzu's incremental SNDi rose from 2.75 to 2.83 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Mzuzu ranked 1st out of 1 cities in Mzimba and 1st out of 8 in Malawi as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.83
Rank in Malawi
3rd of 8
Rank in Mzimba
1st of 1

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.52
Rank in Malawi
1st of 8
Rank in Mzimba
1st of 1

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

What about similarly populated cities?

0.91.82.73.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
0.91.82.73.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MzuzuKoldaLongxi

In new street additions, Mzuzu built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Kolda built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Longxi fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Mzuzu and Longxi both became progressively more disconnected, while Kolda grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Mzuzu and Kolda have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.