Al in context: Street-network sprawl trends

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Al plotted against Diyarbakir and Turkey. The SNDi of new construction in Al peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Diyarbakir which peaked in 1976-1990 and Turkey which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Al's incremental SNDi fell from 5.17 to 5.1 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Al ranked 5th out of 5 cities in Diyarbakir and 173rd out of 174 in Turkey as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Tumaco, Colombia
• Tchin-Tabaraden, Niger
• Shaoyang, China
• Fatehpur Shekhawati, India
• Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan
• Fkih Ben Salah, Morocco

In new street additions, Al built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Tumaco built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Fatehpur Shekhawati built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full network, Al grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Tumaco became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards and Fatehpur Shekhawati grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Al and Tumaco have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.