Qingdao in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Qingdao in context

2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.12.83.54.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
QingdaoShandong (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Qingdao plotted against Shandong and China. The SNDi of new construction in Qingdao rose steadily, compared to Shandong which peaked in 1976-1990 and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Qingdao's incremental SNDi rose from 2.77 to 3.57 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Qingdao ranked 76th out of 124 cities in Shandong and 681st out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.57
Rank in China
1178th of 1843
Rank in Shandong
100th of 124

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.62
Rank in China
681st of 1843
Rank in Shandong
76th of 124

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
QingdaoHoustonRecife

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