Panzhou 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 Panzhou plotted against Guizhou and China. The SNDi of new construction in Panzhou was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Guizhou which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Panzhou's incremental SNDi rose from 3.4 to 4.41 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Panzhou ranked 30th out of 41 cities in Guizhou and 1552nd 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?

• Zongyang, China
• La Spezia, Italy
• Anié, Togo
• Xishui, China
• Arlit, Niger
• Aplahoué, Benin

In new street additions, Panzhou built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Zongyang fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Xishui built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Panzhou became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards, while Zongyang became progressively more disconnected and Xishui became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Panzhou and Zongyang have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.