Tangshan in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Tangshan in context

3.23.644.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3.23.644.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
TangshanHebei (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Tangshan plotted against Hebei and China. The SNDi of new construction in Tangshan peaked 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, Tangshan's incremental SNDi fell from 4.47 to 3.26 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Tangshan ranked 98th out of 120 cities in Hebei and 1453rd out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.26
Rank in China
1027th of 1843
Rank in Hebei
62nd of 120

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.67
Rank in China
1453rd of 1843
Rank in Hebei
98th of 120

Rankings go from most connected to most disconnected — rank 1 is the most connected.

What about similarly populated cities?

2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.43.244.8<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
TangshanVancouverMadurai

In new street additions, Tangshan built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Vancouver built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Madurai built increasingly disconnected streets over time. Looking at the full network, Vancouver and Madurai both became progressively more disconnected, while Tangshan grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. Notably, Tangshan had a more sprawly network than Madurai in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.