Sustainable Land Use Diagnosis Based on the Perspective of Coupling Socioeconomy and Ecology in the Xiongan New Area, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

From the perspective of coordinated development of social economy and ecology, this manuscript constructs an assessment framework of LUS and applies it to Xiongan New Area, the coupling relationship between regional socio-economic sustainability and ecological sustainability is calculated. And the driving factors of the coupling relationship are explored by using a geographic detector. It is valuable to explore the LUS before and after the development of Xiongan New Area and has important reference significance for the construction of international new area.This is an innovative research,with a lot of data analysis and modeling. I found it appropriate for publication in the Land, but only after minor revision：

1. Introduction: This part needs to be strengthened with additional literature to clear the scientific problems of the manuscript and the significance of this study in-depth.

2. Results: In 4.1,“half of the socioeconomic indicators—namely, population density and average GDP per square kilometer—increased in most of the towns, while the other half—namely, grain output and the output of AFAHF—decreased in most of the towns from 2010 to 2020. This is according to the perspective of the change characteristics of various indicators regarding social economy (Fig.3). It suggests that while the new area's economy is more robust and its population is growing, the agricultural output, particularly the yield of grains, is somewhat impacted. ” In response to this result, the author did not explain the possible reasons，please elaborate on the reasons for the changes in socioeconomic indicators of Xiongan New Area in the Discussion.

3. Discussion: In the third paragraph of 5.1 is better to point out the comparison of your results with those predecessors,rather than listing your results and reasons.

4. Conclusion: The description of this part is a little redundant and need to be further refined.

5. The language needs minor revision.This paper has many too long sentences,such as Line 14-17, Line 65-71, Line 87-90 and Line 99-102, and it is suggested to further modify to make the text more concise. The expression of the sentence in Line 509 is inappropriate. It is also suggested to further correct the grammatical errors such as Line 162 and Line 456.

Author Response

Dear reviewer:

We are grateful for your nice comments on our manuscript.  Our revisions and response are represented in the attachment. The changes and revisions are marked in red.

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Starting from the coupling relationship between socio-economic development and ecological environment protection, this article constructs a theoretical framework for sustainable land use development, studies the changes in the land sustainable use subsystem and its coupling coordinated development status in Xiong'an New Area, which has certain theoretical value and practical significance. Provide the following suggestions for the author's reference.

（1）Socio-economic development and ecological environment protection are closely related to land systems, but it is necessary to focus on scientific issues and select indicators closely related to land elements to scientifically measure sustainable land use.

（2）In section 2.2, the author believes that population reflects the size of a region's labor force, demand for social services, and market potential, but the population density is used as a negative indicator. In theory, population density is positively correlated with socio-economic development.

（3）In section 3.3.3, The abuse and misuse of the coupled coordination model are already very serious. It is recommended to verify the correctness of the literature formula again. In addition, the formula variables need to be in italics.

（4）There are many inaccuracies and lack of rigor in the expression of the article. As pointed out in section 4.1, after the development of Xiong'an New Area, the social-economic indicators and ecological environment indicators show an increasing or decreasing trend, but what is actually measured is the magnitude of changes from 2010 to 2020. In the study area, it is pointed out that the construction of Xiong'an New Area began in 2017, so the development period of Xiong'an New Area should be after 2017.

（5）In section 4.1, It is pointed out that from 2010 to 2020, only a few villages and towns in Xiong'an New Area have seen an increase in their socio-economic sustainability, while the majority of villages and towns have suffered damage. Theoretically, this contradicts the actual construction and development of Xiong'an New Area. The main reason may be that the author views population density as a negative indicator and emphasizes agricultural output of land, while neglecting socio-economic factors such as the development of manufacturing and service industries, as well as the construction of public service facilities.

Author Response

Dear reviewer:

We are grateful for your nice comments on our manuscript.  Our revisions and response are represented in the attachment. The changes and revisions are marked in red.

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The focus of this study on the relationship between socio-economic and ecological indicators in land use policy is extremely important, not just in China but world-wide.  The authors describe areas representing four different types of growth or decline relationships between socio-economic and ecological indicators.  I find the overall methodological design to be reasonable.  The findings of the study, however, really beg the question, to what extent were differences in the characteristics of different levels of leadership – local, provincial, national – before the study responsible for the findings?

This is a great study.  It is well designed and the write up is very clear.

Author Response

Dear reviewer:

We are grateful for your nice comments on our manuscript.  Our revisions and response are represented in the attachment. The changes and revisions are marked in red.

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The author has made revisions or responses to the questions raised by the reviewers, and the article has basically met the requirements for publication. It is recommended to publish it

Author Response

Dear reviewer:

We are grateful for your nice comments on our manuscript, which help me improve the paper. We have revised the article according to the standard style of MDPI and changed some issues such as grammar and format.