Tsuruoka 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 Tsuruoka plotted against Yamagata and Japan. All three follow the same trend in new construction, suggesting a shared regional pattern of development. Most recently, Tsuruoka's incremental SNDi rose from 1.85 to 2.36 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Tsuruoka ranked 2nd out of 2 cities in Yamagata and 26th 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?

• Xinping, China
• Pattan, Jammu and Kashmir
• Siyahgird, Afghanistan
• Usulután, El Salvador
• Khurai, India
• Sondalia, India

In new street additions, Tsuruoka fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Xinping built increasingly disconnected streets from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved and Usulután built increasingly disconnected streets over time. For the full network, Tsuruoka and Usulután both became progressively more disconnected, while Xinping grew more disconnected from 1975 through 1976-1990, then improved. Tsuruoka and Usulután have been growing further apart in their street-network character since 1975.