Nacala 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 Nacala plotted against Nampula and Mozambique. The SNDi of new construction in Nacala followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Nampula which rose steadily and Mozambique which rose steadily. Most recently, Nacala's incremental SNDi rose from 3.0 to 3.35 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Nacala ranked 2nd out of 5 cities in Nampula and 32nd 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?

• Hyesan, North Korea
• Baiyin, China
• Itajaí, Brazil
• Bridgeport, United States
• Karad, India
• Payyanur, India

In new street additions, Nacala fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Hyesan built increasingly connected streets over time and Bridgeport built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full network, Nacala fluctuated in connectivity, while Hyesan became progressively more connected and Bridgeport grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved.