Damascus in context: Street-network sprawl trends
Damascus in context
The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Damascus plotted against Rif Dimashq and Syria. The SNDi of new construction in Damascus rose steadily, compared to Rif Dimashq which rose steadily and Syria which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Damascus's incremental SNDi rose from 4.42 to 5.23 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Damascus ranked 4th out of 6 cities in Rif Dimashq and 35th out of 39 in Syria as of 2020.
New Street Additions (2006–2020)
- SNDi value
- 5.23
- Rank in Syria
- 36th of 39
- Rank in Rif Dimashq
- 4th of 6
Entire Network (Aggregate)
- SNDi value
- 3.22
- Rank in Syria
- 35th of 39
- Rank in Rif Dimashq
- 4th of 6
Rankings go from most connected to most disconnected — rank 1 is the most connected.
What about similarly populated cities?
- Douala, Cameroon
- Indore, India
- Karaj, Iran
- Naples, Italy
- Durban, South Africa
- Kasaï-Oriental, Democratic Republic of the Congo
In new street additions, Damascus and Douala both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Naples built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Damascus and Douala have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.