Mufulira in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Mufulira 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
MufuliraCopperbelt (Region)Zambia (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Mufulira plotted against Copperbelt and Zambia. The SNDi of new construction in Mufulira followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Copperbelt which rose steadily and Zambia which rose steadily. Most recently, Mufulira's incremental SNDi rose from 1.91 to 2.39 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Mufulira ranked 2nd out of 7 cities in Copperbelt and 8th out of 30 in Zambia as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.39
Rank in Zambia
6th of 30
Rank in Copperbelt
1st of 7

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.09
Rank in Zambia
8th of 30
Rank in Copperbelt
2nd of 7

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.82.433.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.433.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MufuliraTonglu CountyMahabad

In new street additions, Mufulira fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Tonglu County built increasingly connected streets over time and Mahabad built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Mufulira fluctuated in connectivity, while Tonglu County became progressively more connected and Mahabad became progressively more disconnected. Notably, Mufulira had a more connected network than Tonglu County in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.