Zhijin 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 Zhijin plotted against Guizhou and China. The SNDi of new construction in Zhijin peaked 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, Zhijin's incremental SNDi fell from 5.65 to 4.14 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Zhijin ranked 36th out of 41 cities in Guizhou and 1691st 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?

• Saray Osmangazi, Turkey
• Bergen, Norway
• Qichun County, China
• Miandoab, Iran
• Khenifra, Morocco
• Kalpi, India

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