Thun 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 Thun plotted against Bern and Switzerland. The SNDi of new construction in Thun followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase, compared to Bern which followed a zig-zag trend with an overall increase and Switzerland which rose steadily. Most recently, Thun's incremental SNDi rose from 3.4 to 3.63 between 1991-2005 and 2006-2020. In terms of the aggregate network, Thun ranked 3rd out of 3 cities in Bern and 14th out of 17 in Switzerland as of 2020.

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

What about similarly populated cities?

• Jiangxian, China
• Aguachica, Colombia
• Gera, Germany
• Bhandaria, Bangladesh
• Palencia, Spain
• Loralai, Pakistan

In new street additions, Thun and Jiangxian both fluctuated in its street-construction patterns, while Bhandaria built increasingly connected streets from 1975 through 1991-2005, then shifted to more disconnected patterns. For the full network, Thun and Jiangxian both became progressively more disconnected, while Bhandaria became more connected from 1975 through 1991-2005, then grew more sprawly from 1991-2005 onwards. Notably, Thun had a more sprawly network than Jiangxian in 1975 but the two have since reversed their relative ranking.