Merca in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Merca in context

1.21.622.42.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.21.622.42.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MercaShabeellaha Hoose (Region)Somalia (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Merca plotted against Shabeellaha Hoose and Somalia. The SNDi of new construction in Merca peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Shabeellaha Hoose which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Somalia which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Merca's incremental SNDi fell from 1.51 to 1.35 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Merca ranked 8th out of 8 cities in Shabeellaha Hoose and 29th out of 39 in Somalia as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
1.35
Rank in Somalia
6th of 39
Rank in Shabeellaha Hoose
2nd of 8

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
1.89
Rank in Somalia
29th of 39
Rank in Shabeellaha Hoose
8th of 8

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1234<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1234<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MercaIndioHeerlen

In new street additions, Merca built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Indio built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved and Heerlen built increasingly disconnected streets over time. Looking at the full network, Indio and Heerlen both became progressively more disconnected, while Merca grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved.