Aral in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Aral 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
AralXinjiang Uygur (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Aral plotted against Xinjiang Uygur and China. The SNDi of new construction in Aral was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Xinjiang Uygur which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Aral's incremental SNDi rose from 2.26 to 2.32 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Aral ranked 10th out of 31 cities in Xinjiang Uygur and 517th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.32
Rank in China
407th of 1843
Rank in Xinjiang Uygur
9th of 31

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.41
Rank in China
517th of 1843
Rank in Xinjiang Uygur
10th of 31

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

What about similarly populated cities?

23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
23456<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
AralSodertaljeBawal

In new street additions, Aral built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Södertälje built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Bawal fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Aral and Bawal both became progressively more connected, while Södertälje became progressively more disconnected. Notably, Aral had a more sprawly network than Södertälje in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.