Tiancheng in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Tiancheng in context

2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
TianchengHubei (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Tiancheng plotted against Hubei and China. The SNDi of new construction in Tiancheng peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Hubei which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Tiancheng's incremental SNDi fell from 2.87 to 2.71 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Tiancheng ranked 25th out of 77 cities in Hubei and 687th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.71
Rank in China
667th of 1843
Rank in Hubei
23rd of 77

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.63
Rank in China
687th of 1843
Rank in Hubei
25th of 77

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

What about similarly populated cities?

36912<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
36912<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
TianchengPangshaAl-Gharaq

In new street additions, Tiancheng built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Pangsha built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns and Al-Gharaq fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Tiancheng became progressively more disconnected, while Pangsha became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards and Al-Gharaq fluctuated in connectivity. Notably, Tiancheng had a more connected network than Al-Gharaq in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.