Hengzhou in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Hengzhou in context

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
HengzhouGuangxi (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Hengzhou plotted against Guangxi and China. The SNDi of new construction in Hengzhou peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Guangxi which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Hengzhou's incremental SNDi fell from 3.9 to 3.18 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Hengzhou ranked 31st out of 63 cities in Guangxi and 1135th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.18
Rank in China
989th of 1843
Rank in Guangxi
25th of 63

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.14
Rank in China
1135th of 1843
Rank in Guangxi
31st of 63

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
HengzhouColonelganjDiaobingshan

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