Xi'an in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Xi'an in context

33.544.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
33.544.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Xi'anShaanxi (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Xi'an plotted against Shaanxi and China. While Shaanxi and China both followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, Xi'an's new street additions followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Xi'an's incremental SNDi rose from 3.13 to 3.16 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Xi'an ranked 40th out of 62 cities in Shaanxi and 1066th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.16
Rank in China
972nd of 1843
Rank in Shaanxi
37th of 62

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.05
Rank in China
1066th of 1843
Rank in Shaanxi
40th of 62

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

What about similarly populated cities?

22.533.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
22.533.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Xi'anChicagoToronto

In new street additions, Xi'an fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Chicago built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Toronto built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend.