Chengdu in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Chengdu 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
ChengduSichuan (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Chengdu plotted against Sichuan and China. The SNDi of new construction in Chengdu rose steadily, compared to Sichuan which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Chengdu's incremental SNDi rose from 3.08 to 3.16 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Chengdu ranked 38th out of 98 cities in Sichuan and 956th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.16
Rank in China
978th of 1843
Rank in Sichuan
49th of 98

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.91
Rank in China
956th of 1843
Rank in Sichuan
38th of 98

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

What about similarly populated cities?

3456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
3456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
ChengduKuala LumpurNanjing

In new street additions, Chengdu and Kuala Lumpur both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, while Nanjing built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Chengdu and Kuala Lumpur have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.