Does the Concept of Green Development Promote High-Quality Urban Development?—An Empirical Analysis Based on the Pilot Policy of the “Zero-Waste City” in China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1. In the contribution (2) of the penultimate paragraph of Part I, please provide an explanation of how the use of waste-free cities has provided better policy effectiveness.

2. The analysis of the article is thin and it is suggested to add mechanism analysis or other heterogeneity analysis.

3. It is suggested to supplement the descriptive statistics results to fully examine whether there is some error in the data.

4. The format of references is confusing, and it is suggested to correct it according to the requirements of the journal.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1. it would be beneficial to provide more specific data and context upfront, such as including exact statistics on China's annual solid waste increase and comparisons to other countries to emphasize the scale of the issue. Additionally, clarifying the research gap and objectives would strengthen the introduction; explicitly stating the unique contributions of the study and outlining the specific research questions would help guide readers and set clear expectations for the paper's content.

2. What is the main question addressed by the research? Does the "zero waste cities" policy pilot in China have a significant impact on promoting high-quality urban development?

3. Do you consider the topic original or relevant to the field? Does it address a specific gap in the field? Please also explain why this is/ is not the case. The authors should provide specific data and empirical evidence, particularly concerning emissions from incineration facilities and the extent of plastic pollution in waterways, along with comparative analyses to international standards. Additionally, a more detailed examination of institutional fragmentation and its impact on policy implementation would enhance the critique's validity. To improve the research, one key area could be conducting a rigorous analysis of the gap between high-level policies and local execution, potentially through case studies that illustrate the challenges and successes in implementing waste management strategies. Addressing this area would provide a more nuanced understanding of China's waste management challenges and offer actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners.

4. What does it add to the subject area compared with other published material?

5. What specific improvements should the authors consider regarding the methodology? What further controls should be considered?

6. Are the conclusions consistent with the evidence and arguments presented and do they address the main question posed? Please also explain why this is/is not the case. It could be improved by discussing the broader implications of the findings beyond China, such as how they might inform zero-waste city policies in other developing countries, and by proposing specific future research directions, like examining the long-term effects of the policy or investigating spillover effects to neighboring non-pilot cities. Additionally, a more critical assessment of the study's limitations would strengthen the conclusion; this could involve acknowledging potential biases in the data, discussing assumptions made during the analysis, and highlighting areas for methodological improvement in future research, thereby demonstrating a nuanced understanding of the findings and their implications.

7. Are the references appropriate? It is recommended to increase the focus on the "Zero Waste City" policy by incorporating more directly related sources, balance the representation of Chinese and international literature for broader context, and include additional urban planning references to enrich the analysis. Furthermore, adding meta-analyses or systematic reviews could strengthen the theoretical foundation, while integrating official policy documents and recent studies on post-COVID urban development would provide valuable insights into contemporary challenges and practices in green urban development.

Any additional comments on the tables and figures.

1. Table 3 (Basic regression results):
• Add a title above the table for clarity.
• Consider bolding the ZWC variable row to highlight the main effect of interest.
• Add a note explaining the meaning of "idfix" and "yearfix".
  

2. Figure 1 (Parallel trend test):
• Increase the font size of axis labels and legend for better readability.
• Add a vertical line at t=0 to clearly mark the policy implementation point.
3. Table 4 (Propensity scores match results):
• Add a descriptive title.
• Align decimal points for easier comparison across rows.
• Consider rounding to fewer decimal places for clarity.
• Add a brief explanation of what "%bias" and "%reduce bias" represent.
4. Figure 2 (PSM-DID test results):
• Increase overall size for better visibility of details.
• Include a legend explaining the meaning of different colors/shapes.
5. Table 5 (Robustness test results):
• Add a descriptive title.
• Align coefficient values and standard errors for easier reading.
  

6. Figures 3 and 4 (Placebo test results):
• Increase font size for all text elements.
• Add clear axis labels.
7. Table 6 (Regression results of urban regional heterogeneity):
• Add a descriptive title.
• Consider using bold or asterisks to highlight statistically significant results.
• Align decimal points for easier comparison across columns.
  

General improvements:

• Ensure consistent formatting across all tables (e.g., font, cell padding, border styles).
• Use professional plotting software (e.g., R, Python libraries) for higher quality figures.
• Consider adding brief interpretations beneath each table and figure to guide the reader.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The research is devoted to an important topic. The article corresponds in its scope and content to the scope of the journal. The logic, structure, and text of the paper meet the requirements for scientific research of this type. The article empirically examines the topical issue of the impact of the green agenda on high-quality urban development. And it is precisely this angle of consideration that is relevant, interesting, and also allowed the author to obtain meaningful results. The recommendations formulated at the end correspond to the results of an empirical study. In the article, the research methods correspond to the research objectives being solved. The article has a fairly high level of originality of the text based on the results of verification in the anti-plagiarism system. At the same time, there are some discussion points and recommendations that it is recommended to pay attention to. The annotation immediately refers to ministries, cities, and regions but does not specify which country. Also, according to the text, the author writes a lot about domestic (or researchers at home) and foreign scholars. For an international publication, this seems to require clarification. 
There is a violation of the narrative time in the text of the article itself. For example, the author points out: "In 2022, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will include 109 cities and regions such as Shanghai and Chongqing in the pilot areas." However, the article is being considered in 2024, when 2022 is already the past tense. In addition, some statements require greater methodological rigor. The author writes: "Scholars at home and abroad also have different under-standards of the connotation of high-quality urban development, which mainly includes three aspects: the macro system, the meso system and the micro influencing factors." Based on this, the question arises whether we are talking about systems of different levels or impact factors. For section 2.2, the name "theoretical analysis" is not quite appropriate since this is the section in which the author formulates the hypotheses of the study and does not conduct a theoretical analysis. When designing the model, it is not sufficiently substantiated why, of all the considered aspects of a high level of development, the author chooses only environmental and economic aspects (although the indicators themselves in Table 1 actually cover a wider range of issues). When formulating recommendations, it makes sense to clarify which government agencies, in the author's opinion, should implement these solutions (given the large number of ministries related to the problem listed at the beginning of the study).

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf