Zichang in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Zichang in context

246<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
246<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
ZichangShaanxi (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Zichang plotted against Shaanxi and China. The SNDi of new construction in Zichang rose steadily, compared to Shaanxi which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Zichang's incremental SNDi rose from 4.78 to 6.53 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Zichang ranked 58th out of 62 cities in Shaanxi and 1714th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
6.53
Rank in China
1770th of 1843
Rank in Shaanxi
61st of 62

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
4.91
Rank in China
1714th of 1843
Rank in Shaanxi
58th of 62

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

What about similarly populated cities?

246<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
246<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
ZichangTamacaAmarawa

While Tamaca and Amarawa both fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, Zichang built increasingly disconnected streets over time in new street additions. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Notably, Zichang had a more connected network than Tamaca in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.