Lijiang in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Lijiang in context

1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
1.82.73.64.5<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
LijiangYunnan (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Lijiang plotted against Yunnan and China. The SNDi of new construction in Lijiang peaked in 1991-2005, compared to Yunnan which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Lijiang's incremental SNDi fell from 2.85 to 2.65 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Lijiang ranked 31st out of 78 cities in Yunnan and 772nd out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
2.65
Rank in China
629th of 1843
Rank in Yunnan
26th of 78

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.72
Rank in China
772nd of 1843
Rank in Yunnan
31st of 78

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

What about similarly populated cities?

2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
LijiangLashkar GahGhafurov

In new street additions, Lijiang and Ghafurov both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Lashkar Gah built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. For the full network, Lijiang and Ghafurov both grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved, while Lashkar Gah grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Notably, Lijiang had a more connected network than Lashkar Gah in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.