Dir 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 Dir plotted against Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan. The SNDi of new construction in Dir rose steadily, compared to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Pakistan which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Dir's incremental SNDi rose from 8.73 to 9.92 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Dir ranked 62nd out of 67 cities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 283rd 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?

• Manapparai, India
• Fenyi, China
• Musan, North Korea
• Mishan, China
• Cangxi County, China
• Bandırma, Turkey

In new street additions, Dir built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Manapparai built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved and Mishan fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Dir and Mishan both became progressively more disconnected, while Manapparai grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Dir and Manapparai have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.