Xiangcheng in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Xiangcheng in context

2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
XiangchengHenan (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Xiangcheng plotted against Henan and China. The SNDi of new construction in Xiangcheng peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Henan which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Xiangcheng's incremental SNDi fell from 3.48 to 3.47 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Xiangcheng ranked 105th out of 129 cities in Henan and 1133rd out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.47
Rank in China
1137th of 1843
Rank in Henan
105th of 129

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.14
Rank in China
1133rd of 1843
Rank in Henan
105th of 129

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
XiangchengSan Salvador de JujuyLinxia

Xiangcheng, San Salvador de Jujuy, and Linxia all built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved in new street construction. The same pattern holds for the full street network. Notably, Xiangcheng had a more sprawly network than Linxia in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.