Obihiro 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 Obihiro plotted against Hokkaido and Japan. The SNDi of new construction in Obihiro rose steadily, compared to Hokkaido which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Japan which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Obihiro's incremental SNDi rose from 1.65 to 1.84 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Obihiro ranked 2nd out of 10 cities in Hokkaido and 4th out of 135 in Japan as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• 新垵, China
• Battambang, Cambodia
• Bukan, Iran
• Sultan Bathery, India
• Lubuklinggau, Indonesia
• Wanning, China

While 新垵 and Sultan Bathery both built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then shifted to more disconnected patterns, Obihiro built increasingly disconnected streets over time in new street additions. For the full network, Obihiro became progressively more disconnected, while 新垵 became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards and Sultan Bathery became more connected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then grew more sprawly from 1976-1990 onwards. Obihiro and 新垵 have been converging in their street-network character since 1975.