Bazhou 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 Bazhou plotted against Hebei and China. The SNDi of new construction in Bazhou was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Hebei which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Bazhou's incremental SNDi rose from 3.27 to 4.99 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Bazhou ranked 106th out of 120 cities in Hebei and 1535th 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?

• Nilambur, India
• Larissa, Greece
• Ramganj Mandi, India
• Pukhrayan, India
• Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan
• Isanlu Mopo, Nigeria

In new street additions, Bazhou built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Nilambur built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Pukhrayan built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Looking at the full network, Nilambur and Pukhrayan both became progressively more disconnected, while Bazhou became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Notably, Bazhou had a more sprawly network than Nilambur in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.