Wenxi in context: Street-network sprawl trends

The chart above shows SNDi trends for new street additions (left panel) and the entire network (right panel), with Wenxi plotted against Zhejiang and China. The SNDi of new construction in Wenxi was at its lowest in 1991-2005, compared to Zhejiang which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and China which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Wenxi's incremental SNDi rose from 3.3 to 4.09 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Wenxi ranked 83rd out of 116 cities in Zhejiang as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Loughborough, United Kingdom
• Dehdasht, Iran
• Gurlan, Uzbekistan
• Gjakova, Kosovo
• Buheung-dong, North Korea
• Marín, Venezuela

In new street additions, Wenxi built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, while Loughborough built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then improved and Gjakova fluctuated in its street-construction patterns. Looking at the full network, Loughborough and Gjakova both became progressively more disconnected, while Wenxi became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Wenxi and Loughborough have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.