To Act or Not to Act: Are Natural Landscapes a Key Force in the Resilience of Historic Urban Landscapes?

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

p.1

1. “such as historic urban area…” → “such as historic urban areas…”
2. “among the nature, society and economy” → “among nature, society and economy”
3. “are in same step and cycles…” → “are in the same step and cycles…”
4. “important carrier of urban resilience…” → “an important carrier of urban resilience…”
5. “Central Park in New York” → “Central Park in New York City”
6. “research of historic urban landscape” → “research of historic urban landscapes”
7. “change process of historic urban landscape, and…of these landscapes” → “change process of historic urban landscapes, and…of these landscapes”

p.2

1. “Yudai Trench Historic Urban Landscape has resilience to resisting climate change with resilience” → tautology.
2. “Tight coupling relations among the natural, economic and social systems have” → meaning unclear.
3. “hurricane” → “typhoon” (the same wording as on p. 4 and p.16).

p.3

1. Fig. 2 “urban landscape of is resilient to…” → “urban landscape is resilient to…”

p.4

“In this paper, we further categorize the integrated records according to natural, economic and social index on the basis of the record integration” → the authors should elucidate why and how they selected these indexes.

p.5

1. “it is widely applied in linguistics and psychology” → references needed.
2. “Li et al. converted…” → which reference?

p.6

“When the significance probability P < 0.05, it means that the correlation between index is significant, which is represented by the superscript of "**". When P < 0.01, it indicates that the correlation of index is very significant, which is indicated by the superscript of "***". If P > 0.05, it indicates that there is no significant correlation between the index, and only the probability value is displayed [24]” → no need to explain the T test in detail.

p.7

“(more records can be found in Appendix D)” → no Appendix D.

p.8

1. “it can be found that the decline time of the three systems all occurred within 50 years after the temperature change reached the inflection point” → how to explain “Social System” in time periods of (a) and (e)?
2. “Comparing time periods (a) and (b), (c) and (d) as groups…the level of natural, economic and social systems decreases accordingly” → how to explain “Social System” in the time period of (a)?
3. “But period (f) is a distinct one...When it exceeds the limit, the resilience will be destroyed” → how to prove that this is the “limit”?
4. “And because of the war and the economic recession, it fell to 2” → “fell to 2” needs to be clarified.
5. “so that the social curve rose to 4” → “rose to 4” needs to be clarified.

p.9

1. “By comparing the time periods (g), (h) and (i)…” → how to explain the other time periods?
2. “However, the social and economic curves have multiple rebound stages, and the change time of the curve does not coincide, indicating that the change of social curve and economic curve is not the main reason to affect the change of the natural curve (Figure 3)” → this is a strong argument, references needed, or should be explored in the future.

p.13

1. “Then, we analyze the periods with significant periodic changes, such as…” → how to decide “significant periodic changes”?
2. “a strong negative correlation between the economic and social system and the temperature change” → how to define “strong” and “weak”?
3. “a strong negative correlation between the economic and social system and the temperature change” → but the correlation between temperature change and economic system is statistically not significant!
4. “but also the influence of man-made activities, such as land reclamation during the Ming Dynasty, which led to frequent floods.” → This is a strong argument, and therefore related references should be cited and elucidated.

p.15

“Table 5” → the authors should explain how to obtain the numbers such as “2.67”, “4.4”, “3.6”…

p.16

1. “was the cold period…” → “was the coldest period…”
2. “The more area they cover…” → “The more areas they cover…”
3. “…were gradually silting up” → “…were gradually silted up”

p.18

1. “would been formed” → “would be formed”.
2. “To sum up, the resilience of Yudai Trench historic urban landscape can fully support Guangzhou to become a sustainable urban showcase, which is worthy of taking history as a guide for contemporary people.” → this is a strong argument, needs to be elucidated more thoroughly and should be evidence-based; otherwise, it should be left for future exploration.

p.21

“hurricane” → “typhoon” (the same wording as on p. 4 and p.16).

p.33-35

“References” → format and spelling check; if the references are in Chinese, should be specified.

More references other than Chinese references should be cited and elucidated, e.g., “Temperature change has a significant impact on the growth, development and diversity of plants in natural landscape and the water quality and quantity of water system landscape [31], and at the same time, natural disasters such as drought and flood may occur [25].” There are many references referring to these statements.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper explores an interesting topic that examines resilience in view of the historical landscape and looks suitable for Sustainability. Very interesting title.

However, there are many major and minor points that the authors must consider to improve the quality of this work as an “academic paper.” Also, I found several grammatic errors in the manuscript. Please find native speakers before submitting. Lastly, PLEASE ADD LINE NUMBERS for the second revision.

Introduction:

1^st paragraph:

“How to improve the resilience of cities, enhance the ability to cope with various external and internal impacts of cities, and promote sustainable urban development are the major challenges facing cities around the world.” Good argument. But need citations. For example,

Alberti, M. (2017). Simulation and Design of Hybrid Human-Natural-Technological Systems. Technology|Architecture + Design, 1(2), 135–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/24751448.2017.1354602

Also, I recommend adding at least one sentence emphasizing the link between the concept(s) of resilience and urban landscape. This will help readers outline what this paper mainly argues. For example,

Huang, L., Xiang, W., Wu, J., Traxler, C., & Huang, J. (2019). Integrating GeoDesign with Landscape Sustainability Science. Sustainability, 11(3), 833. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11030833

Kwak, Y., Deal, B., & Mosey, G. (2021). Landscape Design toward Urban Resilience: Bridging Science and Physical Design Coupling Sociohydrological Modeling and Design Process. Sustainability, 13(9), 4666. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094666

Opdam, P., Luque, S., Nassauer, J., Verburg, P. H., & Wu, J. (2018). How can landscape ecology contribute to sustainability science? Landscape Ecology, 33(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-018-0610-7

3^rd paragraph: 

“In the research of historic urban landscape which created by human activities, the content is often based on the vision of architecture and archaeology to study its spatial form.”

Rewrite this sentence after correcting the errors in grammar. For example, you don’t need to add “which.” But even without “which,” this sentence does not make sense. Also, this needs citation.

 “There is a lack of research on the coupling relationship of social- ecological systems and the change mechanism of urban resilience from the perspective of coping with the impact of climate change.”

This needs citations. Also, I do not agree with this. Please check:

Mörtberg, U., Haas, J., Zetterberg, A., Franklin, J. P., Jonsson, D., & Deal, B. (2012). Urban ecosystems and sustainable urban development—analysing and assessing interacting systems in the Stockholm region. Urban Ecosystems 2012 16:4, 16(4), 763–782. https://doi.org/10.1007/S11252-012-0270-3

Zhang, L., Cong, C., Pan, H., Cai, Z., Cvetkovic, V., & Deal, B. (2021). Socioecological informed comparative modeling to promote sustainable urban policy transitions: Case study in Chicago and Stockholm. Journal of Cleaner Production, 281, 125050. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125050

4^th paragraph:

“Tight coupling relations among the natural, economic and social systems have;”

Don’t use “tight coupling,” The authors just examine correlations which has nothing to do with “tight coupling.” Take a look at this:

Zhang, L., Ofosu Anim, D., & Kabo-Bah, A. T. (2014). Integration of Geographical Information Science (GIS) Technology in Hydrological Modeling: A Critical Review. Advanced Materials Research, 838–841, 2284–2291. https://doi.org/10.4028/WWW.SCIENTIFIC.NET/AMR.838-841.2284

Materials and Methods

In Figure 2, I don’t find any verification process in this research. I find 2 “verify” in this figure. Please describe how you VERIFY the results. The semantic differential analysis that the authors argue as a verification method seems to be the main analytic method to draw conclusions of this research – not for verification.

Section 2.2.3.

“In recent years, SD has been increasingly applied in the study of landscape evaluation, such as in rural landscape evaluation based on ancient Chinese poems [20], the optimization of old industrial block landscapes [21] and Shanghai Botanical Garden scenery design practice [22].” I highly recommend replacing 21, 22 with the literature written in English, and do not cite a master thesis written in Chinese (22).

“Li et al. converted qualitative descriptions in literature sources into quantitative data to propose optimization recommendations for rural landscapes.” Missing citation.

“By comparing the descriptions of the West Lake in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, it can be seen that the West Lake in the Qing Dynasty, which was only about the size of a pond, was still one level higher than the spring, so it was classified as Level 2 (Records 6- 8).”

Please add more explanation after checking the grammar. This classification method does not make sense at all. Are you saying that the West Lake in the Qing Dynasty is bigger than that in the Republic of China so 2 was assigned? How big? Who said this?

Section 2.2.4.

The authors do not need to introduce what correlation is. The entire paragraph seems to be redundant. Make these one or two sentences. Like I said above, this is not verification but just another analysis. And not a coupling relationship but a just correlation.

Section 2.3.

“In this study, a total of 212 historical records related to the Yudai Trench historic urban landscape were collected.” From where?

Results

Figure 3 – 7.

I feel highly suspicious about the reliability of these graphs. First, do the temperature graphs show annual temperature or monthly temperature? Where are the specific data sources? I seriously wonder how the authors draw these specific thermal graphs. Is it 1 ~ 0 degrees during the Song Dynasty? Second, as I said above, the classification method the authors use is not reliable. Please describe how 4 in Natural System and 3 in Natural System is better for resilience in a specific and quantitative way. Also, please explain how 3 in Economic System is as good as 3 in Social System for urban resilience.

3.2.

“The natural, economic and social systems of Yudai Trench historic urban landscape have tight coupling relations.” Please do not use “Tight.”

3.2.1

“But period (f) is a distinct one, because it falls within a cycle of rising temperatures without a rebound in economic and social systems.” Please check out the literature about engineering resilience and ecological resilience. If the authors look for engineering resilience (bounce back), please describe why in the Introduction.

Liao, K.H., 2012. A theory on urban resilience to floods-A basis for alternative planning practices. Ecol. Soc. 17. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05231-170448

3.2.2.

“When the width of Yudai Trench becomes narrow, the natural curve will gradually weaken in 100 years, the economic curve will decline rapidly in 75-100 years, and the social curve will gradually weaken in 75 years. To sum up, there is synergy among the natural, economic and social systems of the Yudai Trench historic urban landscape.” All declines mean there is synergy??

Table 3 and Appendix B3.

Looking at Appendix B3, I believe Cultural System is a better word than Social System. Social System sounds like things relevant to social structures. But the authors are talking about cultural activities.

I see a significant negative relationship between temperature change and social system. Does this mean that when the average temperature rises, the values of cultural activities increase? How does this make sense?  

Discussion and Conclusion.

What the authors try to argue is clearly described.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Line 132-152: more non-Chinese references should be cited.

Line 422-423 “positively correlation between natural systems and economic systems” → “a positive correlation between the natural system and the economic system”

Line 437: “which is not a close correlation but is significant” → meaning unclear.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Although I see some progress in this work, it still needs significant improvement. The topic is novel, which is acceptable for publication. But the method and conclusion are not there. I want to provide one more chance to improve the quality concerning its novelty and potential contribution to the resilience literature. I hope the authors show considerable progress in the next version. 

For revisions,

Line 31:   Please cite the literature related to the problems you are mentioning. I don’t see any literature from [1-5] about urban heat islands, cultural fragmentation, the disease occurrence.

Line 46: This needs citations regarding the two categories. Who categorizes the research into these two?

Line 134: Are you sure about this? Does not a bigger lake cause more damage when it is flooded? Also, as I asked last time, please stop citing the literature written in Chinese. One or two might be acceptable in the whole paper, especially when talking about Chinese contexts. This line does not need to be from the Chinese papers. The authors still cite too many, which is not acceptable in international journals.

Line 138: This general statement SHOULD NOT be from the Chinese papers. The authors are making the reviewers doubt the reliability of this work.

Line 145: Same comment with the above ones.

Line 183 to 189: Although the authors try to add details, this classification is still not acceptable. Why is 10 m one level higher? And why a 200m-long lake provides a scenic landscape? Why not 100m?

The authors should keep in mind that if they want to submit a paper to an international academic journal, they should not assume that the audience (and reviewers!) are aware of Chinese historical contexts. This paragraph is hard to understand without the knowledge of Chinese history and needs more explanation.

Line 208 ~ : The authors are talking about 'general' climate change analyses. So, I highly recommend citing other papers not written in Chinese. Like I said above, please cite Chinses literature only when you are talking about Chinses contexts.

Line 301: Please indicate p values in Appendix C. Just putting coefficients does not tell anything.

Appendix D.  I cannot capture what the authors are trying to say with Appendix D, where Chinese are not translated. These untranslated descriptions do not convey anything to the international audience and reviewers.

Line 353: In every urban system, natural, economic, and cultural processes are connected. This cannot be a conclusion for the specific Yudai Trench. This kind of interaction happens everywhere. If this is what the authors found from the analysis, this paper is not acceptable.

Line 369: Not acceptable finding. The natural systems are affected by many things. The authors find the relationships between the temperature and some indexes because they are only looking at them.

The author cannot say the system is “mainly” affected by the temperature and the indexes.

Line 424: “there is a correlation.” This does not confirm that some landscapes are resilient to temperature change.

Line 429: The ways to adapt to the temperature change vary across the culture. This is what [68] argues. Do not distort the literature to make it fit your argument.

Line 437: what is a close correlation?

Line 641 to 647: There is no strong ground for the authors to argue the current Guangzhou urbanization is closely related to the Yudai Trench’s historical change. To my knowledge, chinses cultural, societal, and economic systems have radically altered in recent decades. If the authors want to connect the historical trend to the recent urbanization phenomenon, they may need, at least, additional analyses with modern Chinses data.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 3

Reviewer 2 Report

Great improvement especially compared to the first version. It is still not clear of what this paper is trying to achieve through the historic analysis (as I failed see the contribution to the contemporary landscape or urban planning). But this paper is now at the acceptable level.