Wafangdian in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Wafangdian in context

2.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.73.64.55.4<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
WafangdianLiaoning (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Wafangdian plotted against Liaoning and China. The SNDi of new construction in Wafangdian peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Liaoning which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Wafangdian's incremental SNDi fell from 5.34 to 4.51 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Wafangdian ranked 41st out of 61 cities in Liaoning and 1059th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.51
Rank in China
1537th of 1843
Rank in Liaoning
53rd of 61

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.04
Rank in China
1059th of 1843
Rank in Liaoning
41st of 61

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
WafangdianGrand RapidsGaoyou

In new street additions, Wafangdian and Grand Rapids both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Gaoyou fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Wafangdian and Grand Rapids both became progressively more disconnected, while Gaoyou fluctuated in connectivity. Notably, Wafangdian had a more connected network than Gaoyou in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.