The Changsha Historic Urban Area: A Study on the Changing Accessibility of the Road Network

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper proposes an interesting approach that more than adding a new case study to the roster of urban morphology studies, details and test the many possibilities of the analytical tool and algorithms used.  

Of particular interest is the comparison of well-selected episodes in the evolution of the historic urban are of Changsha via the analysis of its road transport accessibility changing patterns. Yet, the graphic information illustrating the study can be improved significantly, which would contribute to clarify several important statements. It may be a matter of graphic quality (blurriness, lack of adequate size of graphics, etc.), but also a conceptual issue –why all maps are not presented and oriented at the same scale? (see for instance figures 2 and 3). In any case, the revision/edition of graphic materials should not entail a great difficulty.

Finally, some references to urban studies, particularly to historic “manifestos”, such as the Athens Chart, should require further criticism, as its urban principles have long been discussed and widely overcome.

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

A good paper that examines thoroughly the changing accessibility of road networks in urban central areas. There are only some minor points to be fixed, in order to make it ready for publication. My comments follow below:

• Their analysis on road transport in historical urban areas is defective, and must be expanded in two points: Tourism (add contents from: Cavallaro F., Irranca Galati O., Nocera S. (2021): Climate change impacts and tourism mobility: a destination-based approach for coastal areas. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation 15-6: 456-473; Gladstone, D.L. (1998). Tourism urbanization in the United States. Urban Affairs Review 34(1), pp. 3-27; Sequera, J., Nofre, J. (2020). Touristification, transnational gentrification and urban change in Lisbon: The neighbourhood of Alfama. Urban Studies 57(15), pp. 3169-3189) and Freight distribution (Björklund, M., Abrahamsson, M., Johansson, H. (2017). Critical factors for viable business models for urban consolidation centres. Research in Transportation Economics 64, pp. 36-47; Björklund, M., Johansson, H. (2018). Urban consolidation centre – a literature review, categorisation, and a future research agenda. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management 48(8), pp. 745-764; Nocera, S., Cavallaro, F. (2017): A Two-Step Method to Evaluate the Well-To-Wheel Carbon Efficiency of Urban Consolidation Centres. Research in Transportation Economics 65, pp. 44-55);
• The potential of using this method outside of Changsha must be highlighted. As well, the possible points worth of future research are missing in this version of the document;
• As a final point, I recommend the authors to check their grammar carefully during their revision

Author Response

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Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The revision made by the authors has been rushed. As a consequence, the paper is still defective as far as the previous points 1 and 3 are concerned. My recommendations follow below again for the authors:

• Their analysis on road transport in historical urban areas is still defective, and must be expanded in two points: Tourism (add contents from: Cavallaro F., Irranca Galati O., Nocera S. (2021): Climate change impacts and tourism mobility: a destination-based approach for coastal areas. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation 15-6: 456-473; Gladstone, D.L. (1998). Tourism urbanization in the United States. Urban Affairs Review 34(1), pp. 3-27; Sequera, J., Nofre, J. (2020). Touristification, transnational gentrification and urban change in Lisbon: The neighbourhood of Alfama. Urban Studies 57(15), pp. 3169-3189) and Freight distribution (Björklund, M., Abrahamsson, M., Johansson, H. (2017). Critical factors for viable business models for urban consolidation centres. Research in Transportation Economics 64, pp. 36-47; Björklund, M., Johansson, H. (2018). Urban consolidation centre – a literature review, categorisation, and a future research agenda. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management 48(8), pp. 745-764; Nocera, S., Cavallaro, F. (2017): A Two-Step Method to Evaluate the Well-To-Wheel Carbon Efficiency of Urban Consolidation Centres. Research in Transportation Economics 65, pp. 44-55);
• As a further point, I recommend the authors to have their materials checked again, and possibly by a native speaker. The current stand of the English used is not adequate for a journal of this importance.

Final statement: The document is far from being ready for publication, and there is no way that it can be accepted in this form. The authors should examine the recommendations far more carefully to obtain a green light

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.doc

Round 3

Reviewer 2 Report

Paper improved a great deal and ready for publication