{"key":"streets","title":"The shape of the streets","headline":{"value":"0.22","label":"grid order of Chico's streets as a whole, where 1 is a perfect grid and 0 is every direction alike — three grids on three bearings cancel each other: Bidwell's 1860 plat (φ 0.93, turned 40° off the compass to run with Big Chico Creek), the Avenues north of the creek (φ 0.80, turned 31° the other way) and the postwar town around them (φ 0.21, laid north–south)"},"facts":{"chicoPop":102911,"chicoKm":715.2,"chicoIntersections":3426,"chicoDeadEnds":897,"chicoDeadEndShare":0.207,"chicoEntropy":3.329,"chicoPhi":0.218,"chicoPhiByStreet":0.169,"chicoBearing1":52,"chicoBearing2":141,"downtownKm":26.9,"downtownPhi":0.928,"downtownBearing":50,"avenuesKm":59.2,"avenuesPhi":0.805,"avenuesBearing":150,"restKm":629.1,"restPhi":0.214,"restBearing":89,"kmPer1000":6.95,"intersectionsPer1000":33.3,"betaLength":0.578,"r2Length":0.772,"chicoResidualPct":-5.6,"betaIntersections":0.723,"r2Intersections":0.85,"chicoIntersectionResidualPct":-3.4,"citiesMeasured":10,"expectedKmAtChicoSize":758,"populationSource":"the stored cities study","skipped":null},"series":{"bearings":[{"deg":0,"km":80.76},{"deg":10,"km":13.34},{"deg":20,"km":13.73},{"deg":30,"km":18.95},{"deg":40,"km":26.22},{"deg":50,"km":97.25},{"deg":60,"km":53.51},{"deg":70,"km":28.4},{"deg":80,"km":31.58},{"deg":90,"km":86.04},{"deg":100,"km":12.57},{"deg":110,"km":12.84},{"deg":120,"km":17.02},{"deg":130,"km":38.94},{"deg":140,"km":95.67},{"deg":150,"km":52.1},{"deg":160,"km":15.94},{"deg":170,"km":20.31},{"deg":180,"km":80.76},{"deg":190,"km":13.34},{"deg":200,"km":13.73},{"deg":210,"km":18.95},{"deg":220,"km":26.22},{"deg":230,"km":97.25},{"deg":240,"km":53.51},{"deg":250,"km":28.4},{"deg":260,"km":31.58},{"deg":270,"km":86.04},{"deg":280,"km":12.57},{"deg":290,"km":12.84},{"deg":300,"km":17.02},{"deg":310,"km":38.94},{"deg":320,"km":95.67},{"deg":330,"km":52.1},{"deg":340,"km":15.94},{"deg":350,"km":20.31}],"downtownBearings":[{"deg":0,"km":0.04},{"deg":10,"km":0.02},{"deg":20,"km":0.18},{"deg":30,"km":0.4},{"deg":40,"km":0.56},{"deg":50,"km":11.76},{"deg":60,"km":0.37},{"deg":70,"km":0.05},{"deg":80,"km":0.08},{"deg":90,"km":0.06},{"deg":100,"km":0.03},{"deg":110,"km":0.22},{"deg":120,"km":0.58},{"deg":130,"km":0.83},{"deg":140,"km":11.62},{"deg":150,"km":0.05},{"deg":160,"km":0.03},{"deg":170,"km":0.02},{"deg":180,"km":0.04},{"deg":190,"km":0.02},{"deg":200,"km":0.18},{"deg":210,"km":0.4},{"deg":220,"km":0.56},{"deg":230,"km":11.76},{"deg":240,"km":0.37},{"deg":250,"km":0.05},{"deg":260,"km":0.08},{"deg":270,"km":0.06},{"deg":280,"km":0.03},{"deg":290,"km":0.22},{"deg":300,"km":0.58},{"deg":310,"km":0.83},{"deg":320,"km":11.62},{"deg":330,"km":0.05},{"deg":340,"km":0.03},{"deg":350,"km":0.02}],"avenuesBearings":[{"deg":0,"km":1.1},{"deg":10,"km":0.56},{"deg":20,"km":0.29},{"deg":30,"km":0.13},{"deg":40,"km":0.17},{"deg":50,"km":1.53},{"deg":60,"km":18.6},{"deg":70,"km":1.04},{"deg":80,"km":1.25},{"deg":90,"km":1.46},{"deg":100,"km":0.19},{"deg":110,"km":0.29},{"deg":120,"km":0.25},{"deg":130,"km":3.39},{"deg":140,"km":2.17},{"deg":150,"km":25.88},{"deg":160,"km":0.67},{"deg":170,"km":0.27},{"deg":180,"km":1.1},{"deg":190,"km":0.56},{"deg":200,"km":0.29},{"deg":210,"km":0.13},{"deg":220,"km":0.17},{"deg":230,"km":1.53},{"deg":240,"km":18.6},{"deg":250,"km":1.04},{"deg":260,"km":1.25},{"deg":270,"km":1.46},{"deg":280,"km":0.19},{"deg":290,"km":0.29},{"deg":300,"km":0.25},{"deg":310,"km":3.39},{"deg":320,"km":2.17},{"deg":330,"km":25.88},{"deg":340,"km":0.67},{"deg":350,"km":0.27}],"cities":[{"name":"Chico","pop":102911,"km":715.2,"intersections":3426,"phi":0.218,"phiByStreet":0.169,"deadEndShare":0.207,"residualPct":-5.6},{"name":"Oroville","pop":19712,"km":266.1,"intersections":789,"phi":0.273,"phiByStreet":0.241,"deadEndShare":0.223,"residualPct":-8.7},{"name":"Paradise","pop":9114,"km":322.9,"intersections":1153,"phi":0.557,"phiByStreet":0.506,"deadEndShare":0.404,"residualPct":73.1},{"name":"Yuba City","pop":69148,"km":475.6,"intersections":2118,"phi":0.747,"phiByStreet":0.596,"deadEndShare":0.187,"residualPct":-21},{"name":"Redding","pop":93502,"km":952,"intersections":3757,"phi":0.229,"phiByStreet":0.202,"deadEndShare":0.277,"residualPct":32.8},{"name":"Davis","pop":67125,"km":334.6,"intersections":1716,"phi":0.438,"phiByStreet":0.377,"deadEndShare":0.23,"residualPct":-43.5},{"name":"Woodland","pop":62983,"km":391.4,"intersections":1765,"phi":0.868,"phiByStreet":0.763,"deadEndShare":0.172,"residualPct":-31.4},{"name":"Roseville","pop":163304,"km":1145.4,"intersections":6433,"phi":0.305,"phiByStreet":0.226,"deadEndShare":0.184,"residualPct":15.7},{"name":"Folsom","pop":88091,"km":678.3,"intersections":3255,"phi":0.061,"phiByStreet":0.04,"deadEndShare":0.216,"residualPct":-2.1},{"name":"Sacramento","pop":535798,"km":2856.3,"intersections":15577,"phi":0.351,"phiByStreet":0.261,"deadEndShare":0.144,"residualPct":45.2}]},"sources":[{"name":"OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via the Overpass API","url":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright","note":"every way tagged highway = motorway, trunk, primary, secondary, tertiary, residential, unclassified or living_street inside each city's administrative boundary"},{"name":"Boeing, G. (2019) \"Urban spatial order: street network orientation, configuration, and entropy\", Applied Network Science 4:67","url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s41109-019-0189-1"},{"name":"Bettencourt, L.M.A. (2013) \"The origins of scaling in cities\", Science 340:1438","url":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1235823"}],"method":"Every drivable public street inside each city's limits from OpenStreetMap — motorway down to living street, no service roads, alleys or paths — cut into its straight pieces, each given a compass bearing and counted in both directions into 36 sectors of 10°, weighted by length so a long avenue outweighs a cul-de-sac. Boeing's grid order φ rescales the Shannon entropy of that rose so a perfect four-way grid scores 1 and streets pointing every way alike score 0 (by Boeing's own convention, one bearing per street end to end and no weighting, Chico scores 0.17; his hundred world cities ran from Chicago near 0.9 down to Charlotte and Rome near 0); intersections are nodes two or more streets share (a mid-block change of name counts as one, in every city alike), dead ends the ends only one street reaches. Street length and intersection counts are then fitted against population on log–log axes across the 10 cities measured (Y = Y0·N^β, Bettencourt's urban scaling, where infrastructure usually grows with β near 0.85), and Chico's distance above or below that line is its residual. Populations are the 2024 estimates the cities study stored.","fetched_at":"2026-09-02T21:31:33.738Z"}