Mianwali 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 Mianwali plotted against Punjab and Pakistan. The SNDi of new construction in Mianwali was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Punjab which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Pakistan which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Mianwali's incremental SNDi rose from 3.4 to 4.0 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Mianwali ranked 57th out of 146 cities in Punjab and 92nd 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?

• Laksmipur, Nepal
• Dhupguri, India
• Al-Wasitah, Egypt
• Gillingham, United Kingdom
• Koriyama, Japan
• Dharashiv, India

In new street additions, Mianwali built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Laksmipur built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Gillingham built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full network, Mianwali and Laksmipur both became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards, while Gillingham became progressively more disconnected. Mianwali and Gillingham have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.