Afikpo 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 Afikpo plotted against Ebonyi and Nigeria. The SNDi of new construction in Afikpo rose steadily, compared to Ebonyi which rose steadily and Nigeria which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Afikpo's incremental SNDi rose from 5.34 to 5.7 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Afikpo ranked 7th out of 9 cities in Ebonyi and 381st out of 422 in Nigeria as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Jiexiu, China
• Suq al Shyukh, Iraq
• Saida, Algeria
• Patras, Greece
• Huangpi, China
• Kebri Dehar, Ethiopia

In new street additions, Afikpo built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Jiexiu built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Patras fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Afikpo and Patras both became progressively more disconnected, while Jiexiu became progressively more connected. Afikpo and Jiexiu have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.