Wuchang in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Wuchang in context

1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.62.43.24<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
WuchangHeilongjiang (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Wuchang plotted against Heilongjiang and China. The SNDi of new construction in Wuchang rose steadily, compared to Heilongjiang which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Wuchang's incremental SNDi rose from 3.92 to 4.19 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Wuchang ranked 28th out of 67 cities in Heilongjiang and 412th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.19
Rank in China
1464th of 1843
Rank in Heilongjiang
54th of 67

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.26
Rank in China
412th of 1843
Rank in Heilongjiang
28th of 67

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
WuchangDeqingLabe

In new street additions, Wuchang and Labé both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Deqing fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Wuchang and Labé both became progressively more disconnected, while Deqing fluctuated in connectivity. Notably, Wuchang had a more connected network than Deqing in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.