Arlit 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 Arlit plotted against Agadez and Niger. The SNDi of new construction in Arlit followed a zig-zag trend with an overall decrease, compared to Agadez which rose steadily and Niger which rose steadily. Most recently, Arlit's incremental SNDi fell from 1.45 to 1.24 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Arlit ranked 1st out of 2 cities in Agadez and 6th out of 33 in Niger as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Xishui, China
• Panzhou, China
• Zongyang, China
• Aplahoué, Benin
• Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir
• Chesterfield, United Kingdom

In new street additions, Arlit fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Xishui built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Aplahoué built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Arlit fluctuated in connectivity, while Xishui became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards and Aplahoué became progressively more disconnected. Notably, Arlit had a more sprawly network than Aplahoué in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.