Gongzhuling 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 Gongzhuling plotted against Jilin and China. The SNDi of new construction in Gongzhuling peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Jilin which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Gongzhuling's incremental SNDi fell from 5.48 to 3.14 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Gongzhuling ranked 31st out of 47 cities in Jilin and 1165th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Rongchang, China
• Bern, Switzerland
• Poyang, China
• Shaodong, China
• Mouping, China
• Lalamusa, Pakistan

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