Shangri-La in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Shangri-La in context

2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2345<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
Shangri-LaYunnan (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Shangri-La plotted against Yunnan and China. The SNDi of new construction in Shangri-La peaked in 1976-1990, 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, Shangri-La's incremental SNDi fell from 2.05 to 1.71 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Shangri-La ranked 13th out of 78 cities in Yunnan and 416th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
1.71
Rank in China
120th of 1843
Rank in Yunnan
3rd of 78

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
2.27
Rank in China
416th of 1843
Rank in Yunnan
13th of 78

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
Shangri-LaWuxiAntu

In new street additions, Shangri-La and Antu both built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Wuxi fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. For the full network, Shangri-La and Antu both grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved, while Wuxi fluctuated in connectivity. Shangri-La and Wuxi have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.