The Spatial Interaction Effect of Green Spaces on Urban Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This paper is interesting, topical and addresses a relevant theme for practice. The paper is measured from the perspective of spatial interaction with the impact of the urban green space construction rate on urban economic growth. The paper provides a reference for implementing a green development strategy and promoting high-quality economic development at the empirical evidence from China. The paper's topic and research question are relevant to ijerph journal readers. The authors explain the research questions very clearly and the research methodology is sound. The findings are also very interesting and clearly presented. However, I have some reservations. Most importantly, the current literature review on the economic effect of urban green spaces mainly focuses on evaluating the use value of urban green spaces and the spatial interaction effect of green spaces on urban economic growth is rather narrow. Some discussions should be made around the research model. In particular, the authors need to deepen empirical support and enlightenment which has focussed on the analysis of the economy promoting function of green spaces and not only the concept or a kind of spatial spillover effect. Specific recommendations are as follows.
1. The abstract needs to refine the research conclusions according to the research results and further refine the interpretation behind the phenomenon.
2. Table 1. Description of related index variables explanation of reason? Table2 &3. requires further development–the spatial evolution trend is not clear. Please supply the figure evidence of the statistics.
3. In the 3.3. Subsection, Analytical Model to test the validity of research hypothesis- Some explain should be made around the research model, and discuss the applicability or applicable conditions of the model.
4. Line 257-265. The model proposed intends to measure the impact urban green space construction has on the economic growth of local and surrounding areas using the spatial Durbin model. How is a very moderate degree of association between urban green space construction and economic growth? It is suggested to add literatures or explain.
5. In conclusion, the construction of urban green spaces can effectively improve the economic level of the city and its surrounding cities; urban green space construction plays an increasingly significant role in promoting the sustainable development of the urban economy. The specific impact effect intensity can be further clarified rather than explained in general. Conclusion part requires further development especially according to recommendations.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you for the valuable comments. According to your comments and suggestions, this article is revised as follows:
Point 1:The abstract needs to refine the research conclusions according to the research results and further refine the interpretation behind the phenomenon.
Response 1:Thank you for your comments. We further refined the abstract based on the research conclusions of the article, explaining the logic behind the phenomenon in detail:
“This paper measures the impact of urban green space construction rate on urban economic growth from the perspective of spatial interaction. To this end, we collect panel data of 31 provincial capital cities in China from 2001 to 2020, and use spatial economics models for empirical testing. The research results are summarized as follows: The level of green space construction can attract talents and investment by improving the environmental level of the city, and these financial expenditures, foreign investment and talents are conducive to urbanization, thus having a significant positive impact on urban economic development. In addition, it also has a significant positive spatial spillover effect. In addition, the construction of urban green space will also stimulate the environmental protection of neighboring cities, which has a significant positive spatial dependence. At this time, talents and investment are affected by the environmental construction of neighboring cities, and the economic development of the city has also been significantly improved. The spatial spillover effect of green space construction on the economic level of surrounding cities is also positive. The empirical conclusions provide references for implementing green development strategies and promoting high-quality economic development.”
Point 2.1:Table 1. Description of related index variables explanation of reason.
Response 2.1:Thank you for your comments.We have determined the independent variables, dependent variables, and control variables of this paper in the 3.1 variable section according to the corresponding references: [25]-[30], and detailed the definitions of variables and the reasons for their selection. explanation of. Among them, Table 1 is a summary description of the relevant variables in Section 3.1.
Point 2.2:Table2 &3. requires further development–the spatial evolution trend is not clear. Please supply the figure evidence of the statistics.
Response 2.2:Thanks for your comments.In order to clarify the spatial evolution trend of each city, this paper adds the ranking of the GDP and green space construction growth rate of each city from 2001 to 2020, as shown in Table 2. The results in Table 2 verify the spatial variation of cities in Tables 3 and 4.
Point 3:In the 3.3. Subsection, Analytical Model to test the validity of research hypothesis- Some explain should be made around the research model, and discuss the applicability or applicable conditions of the model.
Response 3:Thank you for your comments. Part 3.3 firstly establishes a spatial autocorrelation model, and uses Moran's index to analyze whether the key variables are spatially correlated, which results are shown in Table 5. After confirming that there is a correlation between variables, referring to Xu, X.X and Wang, YH (2017), SAR, SEM, and SDM are constructed for impact logic analysis, which results are shown in Table 6.
Point 4:Line 257-265. The model proposed intends to measure the impact urban green space construction has on the economic growth of local and surrounding areas using the spatial Durbin model. How is a very moderate degree of association between urban green space construction and economic growth? It is suggested to add literatures or explain.
Response 4:Thank you for your comments.We added the related reference “Yangtze River Delta City Cluster Based on Spatial Durbin Model. International journal of environmental research and public health, 2018, 14(12); p.1508.”. Referring to Xu, X.X and Wang, YH (2017), SAR, SEM, and SDM are constructed for impact logic analysis.
Point 5:In conclusion, the construction of urban green spaces can effectively improve the economic level of the city and its surrounding cities; urban green space construction plays an increasingly significant role in promoting the sustainable development of the urban economy. The specific impact effect intensity can be further clarified rather than explained in general. Conclusion part requires further development especially according to recommendations.
Response 5:Thanks for your comments.We have sorted out the research conclusions based on the logical relationship between urban green space construction and economic development in this paper, and put forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions on this basis:
“This paper uses the spatial panel data of 31 provincial capital cities in China from 2001 to 2020 to construct a spatial econometric model. Then, the model is used to empirically test the impact of urban green space construction rate on economic growth from the perspective of spatial interaction. The following conclusions can be drawn: (1) From the perspective of changes in the spatial distribution of green space completion rates, green space construction hotspot cities have always been concentrated in the east, while cold-spot cities have gradually migrated westward from the central region, with obvious spatial evolution characteristics; (2) From the perspective of time changes, from 2001 to 2010, since the growth rate of green space in the built-up areas of key cities far exceeded that of surrounding cities, there was a large gap in green space construction between cities, so the spatial correlation of urban green space construction was unstable. From 2011 to 2020, Moran's I index showed a slow upward trend. During this period, the level of green space in urban built-up areas was generally high, at a low level and in a balanced state; (3) Through spatial measurement, it was found that because the construction of urban green space can significantly Improve the urban environment, attract foreign investment, gather talents, and green the industrial structure, thereby effectively improving the economic level of the city. At the same time, there is a spatial spillover effect to drive the economic development of surrounding cities. To sum up, urban green space construction plays an increasingly important role in promoting the sustainable development of urban economy.
Based on the above research results, the following policy suggestions are put forward: (1) The construction level of urban green space in eastern cities is relatively high, and there is little space to use the improvement of urban green space rate to stimulate economic development. Create high-quality urban green spaces. However, there is still a large room for improvement in green space construction in the central and western regions. On the basis of taking into account the quality of urban green space, urban green space should be reasonably increased in the newly added urban construction land, and land consolidation should be carried out in the existing urban construction land to revitalize the urban construction land. (2) The government can appropriately encourage foreign capital to enter the field of urban ecological green space construction, which can accelerate the mutual transformation of various elements in the urban greening industry and form a domestic industrial structure that matches the international environment. , improve the rationalization of the greening industry structure; at the same time, encourage enterprises undertaking greening project construction to absorb foreign advanced design concepts and advanced production technology, and improve the technical level and service efficiency of urban ecological green space construction; (3) In the future urban ecological green space In the construction planning ideas, with the gradual transformation of the primary and secondary industries of the city to the tertiary industry, the government should withdraw from the planning and construction of urban ecological green space projects, and complement the functions of the private sector. Quality of project construction management.”
Thanks for the reviewer’s comments, which improve the quality of this article.
Thanks for the reviewers and editors for the valuable comments to improve the quality of the paper.
August 8th, 2022
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper is well written and the topic is interesting.
Line 93-95: Is this statement based on a reference? How did you get to this conclusion? If it's based on the results of your study, it should be placed in the conclusion section.
Line 98; Line 108; and Line 156: what is your reference(s)?
Figure 1: please explain if the chart is based on the assumptions for the study or the results you get from the literature. please mention the references.
Line 245: typo
Line 247-249: this paragraph is hard to read. I suggest writing the formula for S and y in another line to avoid the alignment problem.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you for the valuable comments. According to your comments and suggestions, this article is revised as follows:
Point 1: Line 93-95: Is this statement based on a reference? How did you get to this conclusion? If it's based on the results of your study, it should be placed in the conclusion section.
Response 1：Thank you for your comments.We added the related reference in line 93-95 “Li F.; Yan, T.; Liu J.Y.; et al. Research on social and humanistic needs in planning and construction of green buildings. Sustainable Cities and Society, 2014, 12 p.102-109.”
Point 2:Line 98; Line 108; and Line 156: what is your reference(s)
Response 2：Thank you for your comments. We added the related reference in the corresponding position. For line 98, we revised as “Before the 1970s, many countries and regions adopted countermeasures mostly included the use of legal, administrative, engineering and technical measures to control pollution.” The related reference is “Gordon D., ed. Green cities：Ecologically sound approaches to urban space．Montreal：Black Rose Books, 1990, p.138.” For line 108 and 156, we added respectively related “Xu X.G.; Duan, X.F.; Sun H.Q.; et al. Green Space Changes and Planning in the Capital Region of China. Environmental management, 2011, 47(3) pp.456-467” and “Zhou Y.; Chen, C.Y. Correlation Analysis of China's Foreign Trade Structure and Industrial Structure Based on Correlation and Mutual Influence. Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience, 2022, p.3570781.”
Point 3:Figure 1: please explain if the chart is based on the assumptions for the study or the results you get from the literature. please mention the references.
Response 3：Thanks for your comments. Figure 1 is the theoretical basis of the impact of urban green space construction on economic development in the full text. By reading the literature, the promotion effect of green space on the economy is analyzed. 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 of the second part are all logical combing of the related literature in Figure 1, so the related references [14]-[25] are the basis of the literature in Figure 1.
Point 4:Typo
Response 4：Thanks for the your comments.We have corrected the typo and the result is shown in line 254.
Point 5:Line 247-249: this paragraph is hard to read. I suggest writing the formula for S and y in another line to avoid the alignment problem
Response 5：Thank you for your comments.We have written the formula for S and y in another line shown as line 255-257.
Thanks for the reviewer’s comments, which improve the quality of this article.
Thanks for the reviewers and editors for the valuable comments to improve the quality of the paper.
August 8th, 2022
