Zahrat Laban 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 Zahrat Laban plotted against Ar Riyad and Saudi Arabia. The SNDi of new construction in Zahrat Laban was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Ar Riyad which rose steadily and Saudi Arabia which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Zahrat Laban's incremental SNDi rose from 3.27 to 3.55 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Zahrat Laban ranked 7th out of 7 cities in Ar Riyad and 36th out of 44 in Saudi Arabia as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Qianjiang, China
• Biba, Egypt
• Kepanjen, Indonesia
• Kariega, South Africa
• Lankao, China
• Narayanpur, Bangladesh

In new street additions, Zahrat Laban built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Qianjiang fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Kariega built increasingly disconnected streets over time. Looking at the full network, Qianjiang and Kariega both became progressively more disconnected, while Zahrat Laban became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Zahrat Laban and Qianjiang have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.