Kimberley in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Kimberley in context

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
KimberleyNorthern Cape (Region)South Africa (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Kimberley plotted against Northern Cape and South Africa. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Kimberley's incremental SNDi rose from 3.28 to 3.36 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Kimberley ranked 1st out of 2 cities in Northern Cape and 13th out of 81 in South Africa as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.36
Rank in South Africa
30th of 81
Rank in Northern Cape
2nd of 2

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.57
Rank in South Africa
13th of 81
Rank in Northern Cape
1st of 2

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

What about similarly populated cities?

12345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
12345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
KimberleyParooKoutiala

In new street additions, Kimberley built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Paroo fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Koutiala fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Kimberley became progressively more disconnected, while Paroo fluctuated in connectivity and Koutiala fluctuated in connectivity. Kimberley and Paroo have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.