Proactive and Sustainable Transport Investment Strategies to Balance the Variance of Land Use and House Prices: A Korean Case

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

A significant contribution of this work is the formulation of novel principles for designing infrastructures through access to transport. These principles enable economic agents to identify a more balanced Variance between land use and house prices. The authors provide an extensive literature review and suggest a methodology to support a decision. However, the authors do not adequately state the limitations of this work. It should appear in the data and methods section and the conclusion section. Throughout the article, the reader is made aware of the objectives, the research area, and the method of investigation. We should specify whether the work is part of a broader research project (and possibly indicate its references). In addition, the conclusion section seems to be a discussion of the results. We suggest that the title of this chapter is Results and Discussion. It may also be necessary to broaden the discussion (if possible) by comparing the results of this study with prior studies. The conclusions could then summarize those key messages and propose further research.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for the critical and precious comments. We reflected them as follows.

1. We added the limitation of this research in the methodology section and the conclusion section
2. We specify whether this work is a broader research project at the beginning of the methodology part. This study is not a part of a broader research project, which is a stand-alone study.
3. We changed the chapter ‘conclusion’ to ‘Result and Discussion.’
4. As a response, we added the following explanation in the ‘Discussion on the result’ section, “Furthermore, this research differentiates itself from the previous studies by recommending individual pairs of industry and infrastructure maintaining sustainable power to raise or lower apartment prices, which the government can directly apply to her infrastructural and industrial policy for balanced regional initiatives.”
5. We created ‘5. Conclusion’ Section summarizing Key findings and Further research proposition.

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

Thank you for submitting your research.

The study brings valuable information on proactive and sustainable transport investment strategies to balance land use and house price variance. Indeed, transportation accessibility enhances economic development by reducing travel time and costs, and thereby some positive effects on housing and other properties can be found.

The introduction and Theoretical background are well structured.

Figures and tables are properly prepared, but Figure 1 is unnecessary.

However, there are some essential points to be noted:

1. The article should be modified to ensure that it has the structure of an academic research article, which would generally follow the typical framework of (Introduction) - (Literature review)- (Method) - (Results and discussion) - (Conclusion).

2.  Discussion section is missing. It is very important in order to raise the scientific level of the manuscript.

3. The purpose of the manuscript is not clearly stated. However, in a research paper, the purpose of the manuscript should be more precisely indicated.

4. In conclusion, the authors need to describe the study's limitations and make suggestions for future research.

I believe that if you make the above mentioned changes, the paper could go further in the assessment of the paper.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for the critical and precious comments. We reflected them as follows.

1. We deleted Figure 1 from the main body of the manuscript and relocated them into Appendix B to cope with the corresponding explanation in the data description section.
2. We created ‘4.4 discussion session,’ which interprets the numerical result through the lens of economic sustainability.
3. We specify the aims of this research in the last paragraph of the introduction section as follows “This research aims to recommend concrete pairs of industries and urban infrastructures realizing the positive synergy to raise apartment prices first. Then, it captures the trends penetrating the pairs, which can complete the nation’s regional balanced development policy.”
4. We made the necessary remarks addressing the limitation and room for further research in the conclusion section.

Reviewer 3 Report

The research tried to establish quantitative models explaining how ‘transport accessibility to infrastructure’ raises the apartment price in South Korea while interacting with the industries.  The methodologies are suitable to answer the questions and the data sources are reliable. The results show that most urban infrastructures raise apartment prices per square meter about ten times higher than most industries. Moreover, the synergy between industrial sales and infrastructural accessibility was negative in most cases, showing a limit of infrastructural investment alone to facilitate sustainable development. Third, an impoverished area tends to conclude positive synergies between industries and infrastructures, justifying more infrastructural investment in those poor areas. Finally, a public service behaves as infrastructure, which re-examines public services’ functionality of the prime water’. There are 2 main points need to be revised:

1.       To explain the negative effect of public clinics to apartment price and negative effect of manufacturing industrial to apartment price in Results part.

2.       To check writings carefully.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for the critical and precious comments. We reflected them as follows.

1. We inserted the following part in the result section to reflect the reviewer’s suggestion: ‘In time order, the sales of manufacture were fixed in 2015, after which the market shaped apartment prices. Therefore, we might make a mistake in saying that the decrease in manufacturing sales caused raised house prices. A more appropriate answer might be that manufacturing firms had gathered around poorer places to reduce the fixed cost, after which the geographical condition kept lowering the apartment price. Similarly, the Korean government installed more public clinics in poorer areas to benefit poorer people, after which the geographical conditions of the chosen places continued decreasing the apartment prices.’
2. We corrected grammatical errors.