Visual Quality Assessment of Historical Street Scenes: A Case Study of the First “Real” Street Established in Baghdad
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper is focused on the visual quality assessment of historical streets for the case study of Baghdad old city centre. Although the topic is interesting and inspiring, the manuscript needs major revision, in order to outline clearly its originality and innovation.
Particularly, after the “Introduction”, which reports very well-established concepts and ideas related to heritage restoration and conservation, a “Research Background” with a review of the relevant state-of-the-art is recommended. This new section should highlight the main achievements and shortcomings of related works that the research methodology has addressed as an advancement of knowledge, in terms of methods and tools. The authors decided to mention several published papers in the “Discussion” section that makes difficult to understand to what extent the results are novel or just a confirmation of previous studies on a different application field. It is suggested to move most of the references in the new “Research Background” section.
Consistently, in the “Discussion”, beyond the available analysis of results with reference to age, gender, income and so on, some insights would be desirable on the planning strategies that the authors foresee in order to enhance the qualitative factors and minimize the negative ones. This would be useful to strengthen the discussion of the elements and factors that impact the visual quality assessment and are now quite generic from the technical point of view.
Finally, the authors should pay greater attention to the references and their relevance for the concepts in the text. In some cases, very specific papers are referenced for very general concepts (e.g. ref [1] for introducing the Sustainable Development Goals that are presented in institutional reports/webpages or Ref. [29] for outlining the role of maintenance) or they are not consistent with the concepts in the text (e.g. Ref. [23] for “the conservation and sustainability of historical street scenes consider the community’s cultural approach as a key influence for local communities” and Ref. [27,28] for consistency with “a level of dissatisfaction from responders with the visual quality and the necessity for a physical environment upgrade”).
Author Response
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Reviewer 2 Report
The work presented is very interesting from the point of view of heritage and the relationship between urban planning and architecture. It is evident the interesting field work carried out, its analysis, discussion and expression of conclusions.
I consider that the text should be completely revised because some spelling errors are detected. The text in English should be revised because there are expressions in US English and others in UK English.
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Reviewer 3 Report
This topic is a fascinating one as the idea of finding a way to analyze the aesthetic dimension of a streetscape could be of interest not only to scholars who work in architecture, urban planning, and landscape design but critics and designers of themed areas, whether they are composed of historical structures or are manmade (Disney World, for example, where forced perspective is often used in the design of streets). Unfortunately, this original idea is not buttressed here with enough context and with a methodological study that is convincing. The history of the streetscape could be explored more, especially as it might relate to the specific case of Baghdad. The importance of this particular street, and how it might or might not stand in for some sort of typical street within some sort of context--Iraq, the Middle East, the contemporary period?--leaves the implications of the study somewhat unexplained. Likewise, why the study is based upon a simple poll that is distributed via social media is never adequately explained. Why would the general public's reaction to a street scene be the basis for a meaningful analysis of 32 photos of 1.5 kilometers of a street? There is a randomness in this methodology that is not convincing. While some of the breakdown of the responses is interesting in terms of gender or lifestyle, the conclusions are, again, not very convincing. In essence, parts of the street are more popular than others. This is considered an aesthetic analysis or problem in which viewers of the street are shown to dislike "visual pollution," an idea that is not very clear. (How the heat map analysis relates to this is also unclear.) Some of the reasons given for the aesthetic choices are likewise not very convincing--for example, that participants in the study react more favorably to a block that has a mosque on it because of their positive associations with that kind of structure or place. That is, what are the aesthetic criteria that are being used here? What about the illusion of perspective that the street offers; architectural types (be more specific); changes to AL-Rashid Street over time; "visual quality"? I would like to see this project work, but in its present form, it would need to be much more fleshed out.
Author Response
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Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors have substantially addressed the reviewer's comments
Author Response
We would like to thank the reviewer for his valuable comments and the time to evaluate our manuscript.
Reviewer 3 Report
This version of the report is improved, but I have three suggestions:
1. The authors write, in their response to the last report, that
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In fact, under the current situation, there have been security concerns that made it difficult for our researchers to conduct any extensive field work. Obtaining approvals to conduct in-person surveys and interviews in such locations require a set of challenging approvals. Especially with important buildings in the vicinity, such as Iraq's central bank headquarters. Therefore, the decision was made to an online survey of Baghdad residents. |
If the security conditions in Baghdad prevented you from using a more detailed methodology, one that would have allowed for more extensive interviews or follow-up interviews with people who interact with AL-Rashid, then you should say that in your report--that is, that your methodology was limited to a few questions on social media because circumstances beyond your control made your ability to do more impossible. And that future studies that build on your research need to find a more robust way to measure reaction to the streetscape.
2. You add some new information that is helpful in providing history and context for the study, but at or about line 69 you need to say more here about what your study accomplishes and why it is important. Arguing that having a more aesthetically pleasing urban setting improves peoples' lives is pretty vague. What is a "fulfilling communal experience"? Does your study help urban planners, architectural historians, protectors of landmarks? You make very detailed recommendations later on in your study--get rid of concrete facing that has been put up cheaply, etc. But here you need to make your aim and goals clear and, most importantly, clarify who the audience for this study is. If you are interested in "community engagement," what does that mean and how would you know it has happened?
3. Line 469: I am not sure one can claim that women are more likely to prioritize "aesthetic value" over other functions. This conclusion suggests some essentialism about gender stereotyping that should be avoided.
Author Response
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