Shaowu 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 Shaowu plotted against Fujian and China. The SNDi of new construction in Shaowu peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Fujian which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Shaowu's incremental SNDi fell from 4.39 to 2.64 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Shaowu ranked 28th out of 75 cities in Fujian and 966th 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?

• Golbahar, Afghanistan
• Barretos, Brazil
• San Antonio, Chile
• Lohardaga, India
• Marigaon, India
• Luanshya, Zambia

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