Laiwu in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Laiwu in context

2.83.54.24.9<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.83.54.24.9<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
LaiwuShandong (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Laiwu plotted against Shandong and China. The SNDi of new construction in Laiwu was at its lowest in 1976-1990, compared to Shandong which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Laiwu's incremental SNDi rose from 3.68 to 4.63 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Laiwu ranked 122nd out of 124 cities in Shandong and 1685th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
4.63
Rank in China
1561st of 1843
Rank in Shandong
120th of 124

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
4.68
Rank in China
1685th of 1843
Rank in Shandong
122nd of 124

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
LaiwuCincinnatiPalma de Mallorca

In new street additions, Laiwu built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Cincinnati fluctuated in its street-construction patterns and Palma de Mallorca built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Looking at the full network, Cincinnati and Palma de Mallorca both became progressively more disconnected, while Laiwu became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Laiwu and Cincinnati have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.