Kashiwazaki 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 Kashiwazaki plotted against Niigata and Japan. The SNDi of new construction in Kashiwazaki peaked in 1976-1990, compared to Niigata which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall decrease and Japan which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase. Most recently, Kashiwazaki's incremental SNDi fell from 1.93 to 1.85 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Kashiwazaki ranked 3rd out of 5 cities in Niigata and 34th 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?

• Morales, Guatemala
• Fria, Guinea
• Salaiya, India
• Chinnamanur, India
• Igangan, Nigeria
• Qızıltöbe, Kazakhstan

While Morales and Chinnamanur both built increasingly disconnected streets over time, Kashiwazaki built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved in new street additions. Looking at the full network, Morales and Chinnamanur both became progressively more disconnected, while Kashiwazaki grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Kashiwazaki and Morales have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.