Xuzhou in context: Street-network sprawl trends

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Xuzhou plotted against Jiangsu and China. The SNDi of new construction in Xuzhou was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Jiangsu which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Xuzhou's incremental SNDi rose from 3.15 to 3.58 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Xuzhou ranked 69th out of 101 cities in Jiangsu as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Brasilia, Brazil
• Surakarta, Indonesia
• Tegal, Indonesia
• Cirebon, Indonesia
• Jilin City, China
• Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo

In new street additions, Xuzhou built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Brasilia built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Cirebon fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. Looking at the full network, Brasilia and Cirebon both became progressively more disconnected, while Xuzhou became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Notably, Xuzhou had a more sprawly network than Brasilia in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.