Social Metabolism in Buruan SAE: Individual Rift Perspective on Urban Farming Model for Food Independence in Bandung, Indonesia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I would like to thank the authors for a very interesting research topic, but I would like to make some corrections in order to improve the quality of the manuscript.

The title is clear and indicates the entire research. The abstract contains all the necessary elements. The abstract is correctly describe the paper content.

Further could the authors please indicate where within the recent body of literature their work is grounded. This shall allow to emphasize the value and merit of this work

The methodology is explained precisely. The work methods and techniques is relevant for the paper.

 The author writes in good English. Please carefully check the grammar and format of the full text to ensure that it meets the magazine's requirements.

Author Response

we realize that there are some additions in our discussion, especially in some of these aspects.

1. Our writings related to urban agriculture finally added to several previous studies. What we emphasize in this study is the more specific discussion of how urban policies (which have never been discussed before in previous literature) affect the individual possibilities of citizens to carry out urban farming at their homes.
2. The results of empirical research translated through a description of the data used to explain various thematic phenomena from our research.

Therefore, thank you for your attention in providing an evaluation of our article manuscript. We hope that there will be further discussion regarding the publication of our manuscript.

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you to the authors for writing this article on an important topic, a topic which they seem to be passionate about.

I am in two minds about this article. In a sense, I think that it shows very important data that can add significantly to literature. On the other hand, whilst the data and method seems to be quite novel and interesting, the way that it is presented is very hard to grasp. At least for me.

Before the next review, and I wasn't able to read it to the end, this article will need:

1. Better description of the methodology? What were the questions, where do all the numbers in the figures come from? How is segmentation done and why? Etc. Etc.

2. I am also not familiar with the social metabolism approach, so the article will need to be reviewed by someone who is. The social metabolism approach also needs to be better described.

3. The findings are written in very confusing and somewhat incomprehensible language (which is why I couldn't finish it). I suggest the findings are rewritten in MUCH clearer ways, and with clear and practical references to local context. An example here.

This condition affects the status of food self-sufficiency and also its interest and orientation of independent food cultivation, which no longer focuses on urban agriculture for vulnerable society (urban lower class & lower-middle class society), and instead creates a discourse on food self-sufficiency based on aspects of food affordability (ability to buy food in the market, and not to their own food).

Whilst after re-reading it several times I can almost grasp what it's about. But it's not exact or clear, and I am still not 100% certain what is being said. This needs to change.

Also, was there an ethics clearance for the survey? For universities, this is normally required, and I suspect the journal should require this to allow for publication of the paper.

Some other minor issues:

·       The term social practices is introduces. Does this refer to the social practice theory or is it used in the sense of laymans terms?

·       Minor editorial issues. Repetition of similar statements in the introduction.

·       Where has the social metabolism theory been applied in different contexts? How?

·       Page 5. Discuss how reliable income estimations are. People aren’t generally very forthcoming about income.

* Please define what you mean by the various types of “rifts”. Social rifts. Metabolic rifts. Individual rifts. Ecological rifts.

* Please explain table 1. I don’t understand it.

Author Response

Dear Reviewers

1. the authors have included a research methodology that has not yet been included in the paper. We apologize for missing the inclusion of data segmentation and explanations in the input data from the findings of the authors.
2. The social metabolism approach is often applied to the scope of research phenomena related to the analysis of the correlation between human and natural exploitation as an alternative development analysis tool. In this study, the authors use Nathan McClintock's ideas to describe the relationship between urban agriculture and social metabolism. This is of interest to authors because in general urban agriculture is considered a mere ecological movement, but pays little attention to the "human" aspect which is the subject of urban development.
3. The people of West Java (especially the slum in Bandung City) in Indonesia are open to speaking for financial income (especially the low-income class in densely populated settlements). In the observation, there was no difficulty in questioning income (because this is common in simultaneous surveys in Indonesia). The only respondent's reply to the authors: "Are you asking this question because you want to give money to me? It is because we feel tired of being given surveys all the time, but there is no profit for us" The rest, there is no response outside of other studies that are more serious or offensive