Karachi in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Karachi in context

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
KarachiSindh (Region)Pakistan (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Karachi plotted against Sindh and Pakistan. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Karachi's incremental SNDi rose from 3.03 to 3.36 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Karachi ranked 8th out of 50 cities in Sindh and 19th out of 292 in Pakistan as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.36
Rank in Pakistan
46th of 292
Rank in Sindh
12th of 50

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.68
Rank in Pakistan
19th of 292
Rank in Sindh
8th of 50

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

What about similarly populated cities?

246810<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
246810<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
KarachiBeijingBangkok

While Beijing and Bangkok both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Karachi fluctuated in its street-construction patterns in new street additions. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Karachi and Bangkok have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.