Sustainability of Chinese Village Development in a New Perspective: Planning Principle of Rural Public Service Facilities Based on “Function-Space” Synergistic Mechanism
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This study uncovers the core mechanism of facilities’ operation by analyzing the correlation between functional attributes and spatial distribution characteristics of open facilities, and the planning principle developed in this study is useful for both planners and government officials.
I noted the P village includes central village and some natural villages with different infrastructure conditions and user groups, Never the less, the analysis of demand-frequency did not show us the difference between the two. My only suggestion for the improvement is that the authors could run another round of analysis in the future study, some interesting and solid results might be found between different types of villages.
Author Response
Dear reviewer:
Thank you very much for your suggestions!
There may be some differences in the cognition of rural public service facility between user groups in central villages and natural villages. We will continue to follow up in subsequent studies and find some more interesting and reliable results.
sincerely yours，
Yue Wang
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Editorial Board, Dear Authors,
The paper entitled “Sustainability of Chinese Village Development in a New Perspective: Planning Principle of Rural Public Service Facilities Based on "Function-Space" Synergistic Mechanism” aims to study that the basic logic of the selection and operation of rural facilities lies in the synergistic attraction from functional and spatial factors for villagers
Abstract:
The abstract should be revised according to the guidelines of the journal, as information on the research methods used and the results obtained is missing.
After reading the paper, I have comments and suggestions to improve the paper as follows:
In Introduction
The authors write that this research "Eventually, it contributes to the sustainable development of rural China with theoretical and methodological support". However, there is no reference to the theory of sustainable development in the introduction.
In addition, the authors did not describe the importance of public facilities for rural residents. The theoretical part is missing.
I suggest introducing a chapter Theoretical background and presenting what is "Sustainability of Chinese Village Development"? the literature review should be based on world literature, not only Chinese.
Chapter Research Methods are presented correctly.
I suggest adding the geographical location of the rural areas under study, i.e. a map of China with the location of the study area.
In order to have a better understanding of the different stages of the study, I also suggest adding a research flow chart.
The Results
The results are presented and described in a good way and are very interesting. The results of the paper are enriched with tables and graphs.
In the Discussion Section, the authors should discuss and explain the findings and results of the paper more. This would contribute to a high improvement of this paper. The authors should compare their project and results with results from similar conducted research on this topic from other parts of Europa and all around the world.
In Conclusion does not show exactly how this research can contribute to sustainable development
This chapter still needs to answer the question: what tangible benefits has this study brought to the development of rural area and make recommendations.
All in all, I recommend this paper for publication in the Journal “Sustainability” after major changes.
Kind regards,
Author Response
Dear reviewer:
Many thanks for your comments. The manuscript has been revised accordingly. The details are listed as below:
1.Abstract:
The abstract should be revised according to the guidelines of the journal, as information on the research methods used and the results obtained is missing.
Response: After learning the guidelines of the journal, we added the description of “research methods” to the abstract: “This study applied research methods such as field survey, questionnaire survey, Importance-Performance Analysis, space syntax, and Spearman correlation analysis…” In addition, due to the restriction of the number of words in the abstract, in terms of “results”, we have added the description and limitation of “different combinations of ‘functional attributes and spatial distribution’ facilities planning under the goal of good facility operation” for the “the basic guarantee framework”.
2.Introduction
The authors write that this research "Eventually, it contributes to the sustainable development of rural China with theoretical and methodological support". However, there is no reference to the theory of sustainable development in the introduction.
In addition, the authors did not describe the importance of public facilities for rural residents. The theoretical part is missing.
I suggest introducing a chapter Theoretical background and presenting what is "Sustainability of Chinese Village Development"? the literature review should be based on world literature, not only Chinese.
Response: This manuscript really lacks the expanded discussion on the theory of “sustainable development”, which might not be able to support the conclusion of the introduction chapter. Sustainable development is a rather diverse and forward-looking concept. Through the worldwide literature review, it can be found that typical understandings such as "reducing energy demand of buildings", "the stability and health of rural ecosystems" and "industrial structure that makes full use of rural resources". These perspectives have indeed played roles in promoting rural development, but they can't fundamentally solve the most difficult and prominent rural declining problem caused by the unsustainable rural production and life and the outflow of population. Based on this understanding, we have added a new chapter "1.1 The Connotation of Sustainable Rural Development in China ". On the basis of the literature review of rural sustainable development and the explanation of the outstanding rural problems at present, we put forward the definition of sustainability in this study, that is, to realize "local" production and life of villagers, resist the loss of rural population, and form an organic rural living environment which is different however complementary to cities.
The understanding and explanation of the above-mentioned connotation of "sustainable rural development" is the fundamental reason why this study focuses on the rural public service facilities. In the chapter "1.2 Status and significance of construction of rural public service facilities in China", we added the related literature review, and discussed the support and guarantee function of rural public service facilities for villagers' production and life. It is also proved that the decline of rural public service facilities will have a negative impact on the satisfaction of living environment quality or livability, and then increase the outflow of population and the decline of rural areas. The principle for the construction of rural public service facilities will be discussed further in the following.
3.Chapter Research
I suggest adding the geographical location of the rural areas under study, i.e. a map of China with the location of the study area.
In order to have a better understanding of the different stages of the study, I also suggest adding a research flow chart.
Response: We have downloaded the latest version of the map of China from the link http://bzdt.ch.mnr.gov.cn/ , and marked the location of the study area on the map. The map and the research flow chart have been inserted into the manuscript.
4.The Results
In the Discussion Section, the authors should discuss and explain the findings and results of the paper more. This would contribute to a high improvement of this paper. The authors should compare their project and results with results from similar conducted research on this topic from other parts of Europa and all around the world.
Response: Compared with other developed countries such as Europe and the United States, the most prominent feature of China lies in the establishment of "regional unified standards" under the Civil Law System. Therefore, developed countries such as Europe and the United States formulate different rural planning paths according to different rural characteristics, and there is no necessary comparison between China and them. The current problem in rural China is that the principle and standard for the planning of rural public service facilities are inappropriate, and even hinder the sustainable development of rural areas. As suggested, this manuscript lacks a detailed discussion of findings and results, especially compared with the existing principle and standard for the planning of rural public service facilities, the contribution of this study has not been clearly explained. Therefore, we add the following discussion to the first paragraph of the “Discussion” section: “It can be seen from the analysis above that in China, residents living in the rural area with limited resources tend to balance ‘access to services’ and ‘the cost of arrival’ to realize higher travel efficiency. However, the current planning orientation of rural public service facilities is based on simply copying the types of urban facilities, following village-town level and life circle level, which is obviously contrary to the real logic of villagers' use of facilities, and is also the core reason for the idleness of rural facilities. In fact, rural areas’ developing patterns vary in different parts of the world. For example, in United States, there is no uniform regional standard for the layout of public service facilities. Different rural area has its own developing characteristics and can reflect certain self-organization advantages. Obviously, developed countries have long realized that inappropriate regional unified standards will not only reduce the quality of production and life of villagers, but also inhibit the sustainable development of rural areas. Looking into China’s villages, before the planning of facilities, the rural settlements have matured in the process of self-organization for thou-sands of years. Therefore, the planning of facilities should adopt a cautious “site selection and renewal” attitude, rather than dogmatically dividing the circle layers with the attitude of planning new facilities.”
5.Conclusion
In Conclusion does not show exactly how this research can contribute to sustainable development.
This chapter still needs to answer the question: what tangible benefits has this study brought to the development of rural area and make recommendations.
Response: As a summary of the full text, the “conclusion” chapter should indeed clarify how this research contributes to sustainable development, as well as the tangible benefits brought to the development of rural area, and propose corresponding recommendations. Therefore, in the first paragraph of this chapter, we add the following parts:
On the basis of summarizing the current trends of rural sustainable development around the world, we point out the definition of the concept of rural sustainable development in this study. Furthermore, it is pointed out that the public service facilities that provide “peripheral support and guarantee” for the village and operate well can play a role in resisting the loss of rural population and forming an organic rural living environment that is different however complementary to cities. Then, the study summarizes the characteristics of rural development, as well as the current rural facilities planning principle, and points out the value of this study: “it completely subverts the previous dogmatic division of the circle layers with the attitude of planning new facilities, but reveals the synergistic mechanism of facilities to the villagers' functional and spatial attraction, and takes the real logic of villagers' choice of facilities as the theoretical basis and core principle of facilities planning, which provides a theoretical basis for constructing the suitable and universal rural public service facilities planning system.” Finally, this study puts forward some suggestions on the planning of rural public service facilities in the future: “in the planning of rural public service facilities in the future, we should first identify the functional attributes of the facilities, judge the spatial attraction demand intensity of the facilities according to the basic guarantee framework of the functional positioning and space allocation of the facilities, and then conduct rational and prudent site selection evaluation.”
The above has been revised the responses of the manuscript. Your careful review has provided more help to our study clearer and more comprehensive. Thanks again for the advice of expert!
Sincerely yours,
Yue Wang
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The article has been corrected.
The conclusions are correct.
