Abu `Arish 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 Abu `Arish plotted against Jizan and Saudi Arabia. The SNDi of new construction in Abu `Arish was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Jizan which rose steadily and Saudi Arabia which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Abu `Arish's incremental SNDi rose from 2.97 to 3.4 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Abu `Arish ranked 4th out of 4 cities in Jizan and 25th 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?

• Huaibin, China
• Palitana, India
• Langwarrin, Australia
• Santana, Brazil
• Huinan, China
• Young Leninist, Russia

In new street additions, Abu `Arish built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Huaibin built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Santana built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Abu `Arish became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards, while Huaibin became progressively more connected and Santana became progressively more disconnected. Abu `Arish and Huaibin have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.