Suzhou in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Suzhou in context

2.533.544.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.533.544.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
SuzhouJiangsu (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Suzhou plotted against Jiangsu and China. While Jiangsu and China both followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, Suzhou's new street additions followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Suzhou's incremental SNDi rose from 3.29 to 3.48 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Suzhou ranked 73rd out of 101 cities in Jiangsu as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.48
Rank in Jiangsu
72nd of 101

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.24
Rank in Jiangsu
73rd of 101

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

What about similarly populated cities?

1.82.433.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.433.6<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
SuzhouParisBogota

In new street additions, Suzhou and Bogota both fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Paris built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Suzhou and Paris have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.