Livingstone in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Livingstone 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
LivingstoneSouthern (Region)Zambia (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Livingstone plotted against Southern and Zambia. The SNDi of new construction in Livingstone peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Southern which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Zambia which rose steadily. Most recently, Livingstone's incremental SNDi fell from 2.13 to 1.97 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Livingstone ranked 1st out of 4 cities in Southern and 6th out of 30 in Zambia as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
1.97
Rank in Zambia
3rd of 30
Rank in Southern
1st of 4

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.0
Rank in Zambia
6th of 30
Rank in Southern
1st of 4

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
LivingstoneNarasapuramPalmas

In new street additions, Livingstone built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Narasapuram built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Palmas fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Livingstone grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Narasapuram became progressively more disconnected and Palmas became progressively more connected. Livingstone and Narasapuram have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.