Hangzhou in context: Street-network sprawl trends

Hangzhou in context

2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of street additions
2.433.64.2<19751976–19901991–20052006–2020SNDi of entire street network
HangzhouZhejiang (Region)China (Country)

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Hangzhou plotted against Zhejiang and China. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Hangzhou's incremental SNDi rose from 3.18 to 3.66 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Hangzhou ranked 73rd out of 116 cities in Zhejiang and 1211th out of 1843 in China as of 2020.

New Street Additions (2006–2020)

SNDi value
3.66
Rank in China
1228th of 1843
Rank in Zhejiang
79th of 116

Entire Network (Aggregate)

SNDi value
3.24
Rank in China
1211th of 1843
Rank in Zhejiang
73rd of 116

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
HangzhouAhmedabadJohannesburg

In new street additions, Hangzhou fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Ahmedabad built increasingly disconnected streets over time and Johannesburg built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved. For the full street network, though, all three cities follow the same trend. Hangzhou and Ahmedabad have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.