eMalahleni in context: Street-network sprawl trends

eMalahleni in context

3456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
eMalahleniMpumalanga (Region)South Africa (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with eMalahleni plotted against Mpumalanga and South Africa. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, eMalahleni's incremental SNDi rose from 5.68 to 6.39 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, eMalahleni ranked 13th out of 13 cities in Mpumalanga and 66th out of 81 in South Africa as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
6.39
Rank in South Africa
70th of 81
Rank in Mpumalanga
13th of 13

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
4.26
Rank in South Africa
66th of 81
Rank in Mpumalanga
13th of 13

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

What about similarly populated cities?

23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
eMalahleniBorsadVaddu

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