Qalat 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 Qalat plotted against Balochistan and Pakistan. The SNDi of new construction in Qalat was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Balochistan which rose steadily and Pakistan which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Qalat's incremental SNDi rose from 4.77 to 6.03 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Qalat ranked 13th out of 19 cities in Balochistan and 150th out of 292 in Pakistan as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Kafr al Bashbishah, Egypt
• Picha Ya Ndege, Tanzania
• Lüeyang, China
• Santa Clara, Angola
• Sarolangun, Indonesia
• Port Loko, Sierra Leone

In new street additions, Qalat built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Kafr al Bashbishah fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Santa Clara built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Looking at the full network, Kafr al Bashbishah and Santa Clara both became progressively more disconnected, while Qalat became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Qalat and Kafr al Bashbishah have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.