Rongchang 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 Rongchang plotted against Chongqing and China. The SNDi of new construction in Rongchang was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Chongqing which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Rongchang's incremental SNDi rose from 2.61 to 2.84 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Rongchang ranked 15th out of 47 cities in Chongqing and 895th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Bern, Switzerland
• Poyang, China
• Kisaran, Indonesia
• Gongzhuling, China
• Shaodong, China
• Mouping, China

In new street additions, Rongchang built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Bern fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Gongzhuling built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full network, Rongchang became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards, while Bern became progressively more disconnected and Gongzhuling grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Notably, Rongchang had a more sprawly network than Gongzhuling in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.