Mpulungu in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Mpulungu 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
MpulunguNorthern (Region)Zambia (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Mpulungu plotted against Northern and Zambia. The SNDi of new construction in Mpulungu followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Northern which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Zambia which rose steadily. Most recently, Mpulungu's incremental SNDi rose from 2.09 to 3.73 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Mpulungu ranked 2nd out of 3 cities in Northern and 16th out of 30 in Zambia as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.73
Rank in Zambia
17th of 30
Rank in Northern
3rd of 3

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.5
Rank in Zambia
16th of 30
Rank in Northern
2nd of 3

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
MpulunguFenggangHoa Binh

In new street additions, Mpulungu fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Fenggang built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Hòa Bình built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Looking at the full network, Fenggang and Hòa Bình both became progressively more disconnected, while Mpulungu fluctuated in connectivity.