Middelburg in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Middelburg in context

33.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
33.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MiddelburgMpumalanga (Region)South Africa (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Middelburg plotted against Mpumalanga and South Africa. The SNDi of new construction in Middelburg followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Mpumalanga which rose steadily and South Africa which rose steadily. Most recently, Middelburg's incremental SNDi rose from 3.56 to 3.89 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Middelburg ranked 8th out of 13 cities in Mpumalanga and 48th out of 81 in South Africa as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.89
Rank in South Africa
47th of 81
Rank in Mpumalanga
8th of 13

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.42
Rank in South Africa
48th of 81
Rank in Mpumalanga
8th of 13

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

What about similarly populated cities?

246<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
246<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MiddelburgEngelsSahibganj

While Engels and Sahibganj both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Middelburg fluctuated in its street-construction patterns in new street additions. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Middelburg and Sahibganj have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.