Catandica 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 Catandica plotted against Manica and Mozambique. The SNDi of new construction in Catandica was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Manica which rose steadily and Mozambique which rose steadily. Most recently, Catandica's incremental SNDi rose from 2.72 to 3.63 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Catandica ranked 3rd out of 4 cities in Manica and 33rd out of 44 in Mozambique as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Jian'ou, China
• Fengquan, China
• Mechara, Ethiopia
• Lin, China
• Ambalangoda, Sri Lanka
• Adis Zemen, Ethiopia

In new street additions, Catandica and Jian'ou both built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Lin built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. Looking at the full network, Jian'ou and Lin both became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards, while Catandica became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Catandica and Jian'ou have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.