Safwa in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Safwa in context

2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
SafwaAsh-Sharqiyah (Region)Saudi Arabia (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Safwa plotted against Ash-Sharqīyah and Saudi Arabia. The SNDi of new construction in Safwa rose steadily, compared to Ash-Sharqīyah which rose steadily and Saudi Arabia which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Safwa's incremental SNDi rose from 2.77 to 3.09 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Safwa ranked 6th out of 9 cities in Ash-Sharqīyah and 21st out of 44 in Saudi Arabia as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.09
Rank in Saudi Arabia
21st of 44
Rank in Ash-Sharqīyah
4th of 9

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.62
Rank in Saudi Arabia
21st of 44
Rank in Ash-Sharqīyah
6th of 9

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
SafwaSantander de QuilichaoSanto Antonio do Descoberto

While Santander de Quilichao and Santo Antônio do Descoberto both fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, Safwa built increasingly disconnected streets over time in new street additions. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Notably, Safwa had a more sprawly network than Santander de Quilichao in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.