Xishui 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 Xishui plotted against Guizhou and China. The SNDi of new construction in Xishui was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Guizhou which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Xishui's incremental SNDi rose from 2.11 to 2.19 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Xishui ranked 6th out of 41 cities in Guizhou and 279th 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?

• Panzhou, China
• Zongyang, China
• La Spezia, Italy
• Arlit, Niger
• Aplahoué, Benin
• Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir

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