Trialectics of Spatiality: The Negotiation Process between Winter Swimmers and the Municipal Government of Beijing

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is a very interesting article, but I have a few comments:

line 426 - the past tense should have been used there since the Olympic games have already taken place.
The aspect of sustainability needs to be added - what will be the long-term impacts of using swimming pools for nature?
How is the care of water areas used for swimming ensured?
As the title implies, the article should address the relationship between swimmers and the municipal government. However, the article omits municipal government, it only states the opinions of swimmers.

It is necessary to supplement municipal government's view of this problem.

Author Response

Cover letter

 

（To reviewer 1）

Special thanks to you for your good comments, which are valuable and helpful for the revising and improving of our paper, as well as the important guiding to our research. According to the comments on the paper, we have carried on the following adjustment and modification. We used the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word to revise our paper.

This is a very interesting article, but I have a few comments:

• line 426 - the past tense should have been used there since the Olympic games have already taken place.

The response and revision

We are very sorry that these are our carelessness, and they have been revised.

Please see the revises in the relative lines.

• The aspect of sustainability needs to be added - what will be the long-term impacts of using swimming pools for nature?

The response and revision

We are grateful for the suggestion. In the 1st section “Introduction”, and 2nd section “Literature Review”, we added some contents about “sustainability in use of water bodies” to emphasize the importance of the governance of different habits: The sustainability of water use not only lies in its economic benefit and environmentally-friendliness, but also in the dimensions of social justice and cultural vitality. This is also the starting point of this article.

【Whether this contradiction can be solved well directly affects the sustainable use of water bodies. Hence, the governance of different habits is a very important issue in water governance.】

【Public water bodies have the function of providing public water supply for residents, so it needs to be managed reasonably. Sustainable water use also focuses on social equity.】

【Therefore, Cultural vitality is also a dimension to evaluate the sustainability of water use.】

In view of the question whether winter swimming is carried out in the swimming pool or in natural waters, we mainly investigated "why winter swimmers refuse to maintain their swimming habit in the swimming pool". There is no doubt that winter swimming in natural waters will cause problems in natural waters. For example, winter swimmers bathing in the water will have a bad impact on the water quality - if they swim in drinking canals, it will affect the water safety of Beijing citizens. In addition, winter swimming is a dangerous extreme sport. If drowning occurs, it will pose a hidden danger to citizens' water safety. For a long time, it has increased the management cost of the management department.

But why do winter swimmers refuse to use the swimming pool? After investigation, we know that first, the swimming pool cannot meet the needs of winter swimming for water temperature - in short, the water in the swimming pool is not cold enough. Second, winter swimming is a long-term habit. Winter swimmers need to gradually adapt to the natural water temperature according to the changes of seasons and water temperature. This gradual adaptation is an indispensable process for winter swimming habits. Winter swimmers believe that letting the body constantly adapt to the changes of natural water temperature is a healthy activity, and it is a spiritual representation of " harmony between man and nature ". Therefore, winter swimmers should keep their habits in natural waters. This is a long-term impact on winter swimming habits:

【Because winter swimmers believe they experience a connection with nature while swimming in rivers and lakes, it is irreplaceable compared with swimming in swimming pools. Some winter swimmers believe that water temperature in swimming pools cannot meet the needs of winter swimming. More importantly, as Mr. Mo of Beijing Winter Swimming Club (S4) explains, the core experience in winter swimming habit is acquired from the process which the swimmer's body harmonizes with the changing temperature of natural water. It will express their spirit of “challenging nature” and “harmony between man and nature”. That is one of the reasons why they didn’t accept authorities’ suggestions of keep winter swimming habit in the swimming pool. Therefore, their behaviour in the Firstspace is anti-discipline, challenging the “irrationality” of existing rules.】

Please see the detailed revises in the relative paragraphs.

• How is the care of water areas used for swimming ensured?

The response and revision

Thank you for your comments, the discussion regarding this question is presented following: 

In the section of “Three Stages of the Trialectics of Winter Swimming Space”, we have answered this question in detail:

【After the designation of eight legal winter swimming areas, the municipal government also established a suite of facilities that can service winter swimming in these waters. For example, Dongzhimen Triangle, a sign banning winter swimming, has been replaced with a slogan reading “Civilised water activities”. In addition, the municipal government is also responsible for the dredging of winter swimming waters and the construction of auxiliary facilities for winter swimming. For example, there are weekly works organized by the government to clean up water grass and silt, to ensure that the water swimming area is clean and safe for swimming. Special facilities for swimmers to rest, change clothes and bathe were installed to minimize the negative impact of swimmers on other water body users.】

In short, the adverse effects of winter swimming activities on water quality and other water users are mainly reduced by dredging, cleaning water and grass, and providing professional facilities for winter swimmers to take a bath and rest.

• As the title implies, the article should address the relationship between swimmers and the municipal government. However, the article omits municipal government, it only states the opinions of swimmers. It is necessary to supplement municipal government's view of this problem.

The response and revision

We are extremely grateful to you for pointing out this problem.

To solve this problem, we added the interview records from the municipal government in stage II and stage III of the chapter of “Three Stages of the Trialectics of Winter Swimming Space”, especially the section of stage II. We supplemented the interviews with the officials of Beijing Urban River and Lake Administration Bureau and grass-roots level administrators. They represent the views of administrators.

【“Winter swimmers disturb the order of park management and destroy the atmosphere of tourism” (A6)】

【“Although winter swimming is a good physical activity for the elderly, many rivers in Beijing have muddy river beds, with unstable hydrological conditions, aquatic plants and turbulence, endangering swimmers' personal safety. Going into the water without permission is not only easy to cause drowning incidents, but also increase the difficulty of our management, what's more, some people will jump into the drinking channels to swim, polluting the water.” (A1)】

【“Our previous policy was a ‘one size fits all’ ban, only to find that it cannot be forbidden completely, but even increased the costs of law enforcement. We need more detailed management, people have a variety of water activities, some good for people's health, good for sports spirit, they should be kept.” (A2)】

 

We appreciate your positive evaluation of our work and agree with the comments regarding the limitations of our study.

Best Regards.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.doc

Reviewer 2 Report

General comments
This paper is about winter swimmers in Beijing and the theory behind trialectics of spatiality as it was defined by Ed Soja. The authors have made a case study of the situation around 10 winter swimmer locations where they interviewed 30 people and looked back in history to document how the situation - related to the theory where there are firstspace, secondspace and thirdspace views on the world - has changed since the time when Mao Zedong made the discipline popular.

Because of growth in population, changes in environmental policies and generally another attitude towards behaviour in public accessible space, the secondspace approach to this discipline changed dramatically in 2002. That changed again in 2012 where designated waters was approved for winter swimmers. But it is still a very conflict-related subject and even today it can’t be solved easily. There is a growing need for help with the understanding of how these public spaces can be understood and how it can help the negotiation process between the swimmers and the municipality of Beijing.

The authors tell an interesting story here and they do it with respect for the history and the different opinions there might be presented in this case. It is somehow a geniality to point out how convenient the theories of Lefebvre and Soja can be projected on to this case - and used for the analysis of the situation in relation to the different periods in time. Space is not just a physical space - it is looked at, used, perceived, inhabited, experienced with different “spiritualities” - the subjectivity of individuals or a group of people with common interests. We connect with space through our perception (firstspace) but we live in space with a respect for authorities (secondspace) and through negotiations with others (different values, social norms, different experiences) with our daily norms (thirdspace) - so even though we all would like to do things in our own fashion and behave just like we see ourself, we have to accept the laws and rules (secondspace) and the social adaption (thirdspace)

The combination of investigations on the sites in the specific time period in 2021 and the historical walk through is very good and it works very well for me. I was really excited about the periods and how things have changed - it is really a good example of the dynamics of urban development and how it is almost impossible to freeze a specific space/place in a certain moment and say that now we reached a state of balance/perfectness in urban design - this is not physics!

Specific comments
I find the maps shown in some of the figures are very small and I think they should be enlarged to be more readable.

The same goes for some of the other figures as well. They could all use a little revision to be more readable - without taking up too much space

How many survey (case) sites are there? 10 - and  why aren’t they listed anywhere in the paper? I would like to know more about how the research was designed and also know more about the decisions that were taken in relation to this. The authors should try to relate their choices/arguments to what would be alternatives to the chosen strategy

Reliability of sources - how can you just accept that Baidu News and National Newspaper Index are reliable and objective sources? Even though the press seems fairly objective, it is still subject to control, ideology (what was normal in the specific time and age) censorship and regulation. Do not believe there is one piece of real objectivity in this study - but arguments, stories from witnesses and inclusion of several sources from the past can of course support the reliability of a certain “fact”. The truth is not to be found - but opinions from many actors and sources can make a really good study of the history behind winter swimming.

30 interviews are a lot of interviews… I think it would be sufficient with 15-20 interviews. But of course you could have other reasons to perform all these and use them for other purposes that just this paper.

Decision
I find the paper very interesting and the storytelling in it is phenomenal. I would recommend that it should be accepted with  revisions as I have pointed out in my review

Author Response

Cover letter

（To reviewer 2）

 

Thank you for your precious comments and advice. Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval. We used the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word to revise our paper.

General comments:

This paper is about winter swimmers in Beijing and the theory behind trialectics of spatiality as it was defined by Ed Soja. The authors have made a case study of the situation around 10 winter swimmer locations where they interviewed 30 people and looked back in history to document how the situation - related to the theory where there are firstspace, secondspace and thirdspace views on the world - has changed since the time when Mao Zedong made the discipline popular.

Because of growth in population, changes in environmental policies and generally another attitude towards behaviour in public accessible space, the secondspace approach to this discipline changed dramatically in 2002. That changed again in 2012 where designated waters was approved for winter swimmers. But it is still a very conflict-related subject and even today it can’t be solved easily. There is a growing need for help with the understanding of how these public spaces can be understood and how it can help the negotiation process between the swimmers and the municipality of Beijing.

The authors tell an interesting story here and they do it with respect for the history and the different opinions there might be presented in this case. It is somehow a geniality to point out how convenient the theories of Lefebvre and Soja can be projected on to this case - and used for the analysis of the situation in relation to the different periods in time. Space is not just a physical space - it is looked at, used, perceived, inhabited, experienced with different “spiritualities” - the subjectivity of individuals or a group of people with common interests. We connect with space through our perception (firstspace) but we live in space with a respect for authorities (secondspace) and through negotiations with others (different values, social norms, different experiences) with our daily norms (thirdspace) - so even though we all would like to do things in our own fashion and behave just like we see ourself, we have to accept the laws and rules (secondspace) and the social adaption (thirdspace)

The combination of investigations on the sites in the specific time period in 2021 and the historical walk through is very good and it works very well for me. I was really excited about the periods and how things have changed - it is really a good example of the dynamics of urban development and how it is almost impossible to freeze a specific space/place in a certain moment and say that now we reached a state of balance/perfectness in urban design - this is not physics!

• I find the maps shown in some of the figures are very small and I think they should be enlarged to be more readable. The same goes for some of the other figures as well. They could all use a little revision to be more readable - without taking up too much space

The response and revision

We are very grateful to the reviewer for the review to the paper. We accordingly increased the size of the map, especially the legend, to make it clearer to read.

• How many survey (case) sites are there? 10 - and why aren’t they listed anywhere in the paper? I would like to know more about how the research was designed and also know more about the decisions that were taken in relation to this. The authors should try to relate their choices/arguments to what would be alternatives to the chosen strategy

The response and revision

We deeply appreciate your suggestion. According to the comment, we have added a more detailed interpretation:

We investigated 12 sites. They have been added to the section “3.1. Research Area” in the chapter “3. Research Area and Method” (we have replaced the map with Table 1 for the survey sites). We also explained why we chose these sites:

【We picked 12 water areas as our survey sites, mainly include the water areas where winter swimmers swim, partly legal swimming areas, and partly winter swimmers' habitual water spots where swimming are illegal there (Table 1). Since our survey was conducted after September 24, 2020 (the day legal swimming areas was designated), most winter swimming activities were restricted in the 8 legal water areas. Therefore, we mainly investigated the winter swimmers in these legal waters. Surprisingly, we still found that there are still a small number of swimmers swimming in some illegal areas. These places have also historically been the site of conflicts between administrators and winter swimmers. So, we also investigated some “illegal” habitual swimming areas. In addition, reservoirs, drinking water supply channels are not within the scope of our investigation. The reason is that these waters, such as the Jingmi Diversion channel, have been surrounded by railings and cannot be accessed. Winter swimming behaviors have gone extinct in these places.】

Please see the detailed revises in the relative paragraphs.

• Reliability of sources - how can you just accept that Baidu News and National Newspaper Index are reliable and objective sources? Even though the press seems fairly objective, it is still subject to control, ideology (what was normal in the specific time and age) censorship and regulation. Do not believe there is one piece of real objectivity in this study - but arguments, stories from witnesses and inclusion of several sources from the past can of course support the reliability of a certain “fact”. The truth is not to be found - but opinions from many actors and sources can make a really good study of the history behind winter swimming.

The response and revision

Thank you for your comment, and our reply is as follows:

Indeed, the reliability of data sources is the most critical issue. The censorship of Chinese media is a topic that cannot be bypassed. Therefore, thank you for your reminder in this regard. In this regard, we mainly added the explanation of reliability. In the section "3.2. Research method" in the chapter "3. Research area and method", we first further explained the reliability of news analysis, that is, the research on the topic of winter swimming, Baidu news and national newspaper index has certain reliability - after all, it is not a particularly sensitive topic, from which we can find the collision of views:

【Despite censorship and regulations in Chinese media institutions, there are still plenty of news which documented and reported the opposing opinions between the authorities and the swimmers. Furthermore, some winter swimmers have used the media like local newspapers or news websites to claim their needs. This ensures that our sources in news analysis is relatively reliable - we don't just “heed only one side”】

In order to ensure the reliability of the data, we also obtained internal information from Beijing winter swing Association and Beijing Urban River and lake Administration Bureau. For Example:

【Meanwhile, the Beijing Winter Swimming Association also provided necessary historical materials include newspapers, records and video materials for this article.】

In addition, we added emphasis on options from many actors in the original text. For example, in the paragraph of semi-structured interview, we added emphasis on the qualifications (long term of keep winter swimming habit) of winter swimmers and interviews with administrators who have interactive experiences with winter swimmers:

【We focused on interviewing with elderly people who have kept their winter swimming habit for decades in particular, to get oral histories of winter swimming in Beijing. Interviews with administrators and other users of water bodies included their experiences with winter swimmers, views on winter swimming and public waters.】

Please see the detailed revises in the relative paragraphs.

• 30 interviews are a lot of interviews… I think it would be sufficient with 15-20 interviews. But of course you could have other reasons to perform all these and use them for other purposes that just this paper.

In fact, we surveyed more than 30 interviewees (the actual situation is that we reinvestigated after changing ideas in the middle), but there are 26 interviewees who actually helped this article. In the section "3.2. Research method" in the chapter "3. Research area and method", we added the Table 2 to present them.

【Second, semi-structured interview. We conducted in-depth interviews with 26 respondents, include 14 winter swimmers (most of them are swimmers with long winter swimming experience), 6 city managers at different ranks (including those responsible officials in Beijing Urban River and Lake Administration Bureau and administrators of different waters), 3 local residents and 3 tourists from other cities and local residents, etc. The interview methods include face-to-face interview, telephone interview and interview on WeChat. Interviews with winter swimmers include their winter swimming experiences, feelings and suggestions. We focused on interviewing with elderly people who have kept their winter swimming habit for decades in particular, to get oral histories of winter swimming in Beijing. Interviews with administrators and other users of water bodies included their experiences with winter swimmers, views on winter swimming and public waters. The officials in Beijing Urban River and Lake Administration Bureau also explained the policy to us which contributed greatly to this article.】

Please see the detailed revises in the relative paragraphs.

Besides the above revises, we made some other revises.

Our deepest gratitude goes to you for your careful work and thoughtful suggestions that have helped improve this paper substantially. Thank you again for your valuable comments.

Best Regards.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.doc

Reviewer 3 Report

Any first impression from a text is created by the authors' language. Yours is full of annoying mistakes like Soga; or phrases like 'public water bodies' leading to even stranger linguistic constructions as 'water-body users'; 'body of urban population'; there is also lack of distinction in the meaning of 'use - usage - utilization' and many more of this kind.

But more importantly, there is a conceptual deficit in the paper. It would be more appropriate to devote a sub-chapter to the concept of 'public space - social space' than to 'habits'. This part contains a rather basic secondary school information. Moreover, there are other related to 'habit' notions - e.g. 'attitude', 'stereotype' which could be considered as well in the discussion of the 'habit' if you decide to keep it. However, it would be more relevant, when you speak about 'public space' and 'public waters', to introduce your definitions. E.g., not every open space is public. For Richard Sennett the places of mere transit are not public spaces. It seems, for you 'public space' coincides with the form of the ownership, but there are other important criteria such as the form of management, even more importantly - the expected/planned/targeted social goals of the entity (open water spots/areas - not bodies). Finally, be very careful in the usage of philosophical terms because when/if they are used inappropriately, this can reveal the lack of preparation of the authors. Finally, do not forget, that the initial idea of Soja was to make people think differently about the space, along the concepts of society and history, in a trialectics of spatiality–historicality–sociality. His entire subsequent theory of Thirdspace is a consequence of that.

Author Response

Cover letter

（To reviewer 3）

 

We are very grateful to you for your comments concerning our manuscript. These comments are very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding to our researches. We have made correction which we hope meet with approval. We used the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word to revise our paper. The main corrections in the paper and the point to point responses are as flowing.

Comments and Suggestions for Authors:

• Any first impression from a text is created by the authors' language. Yours is full of annoying mistakes like Soga; or phrases like 'public water bodies' leading to even stranger linguistic constructions as 'water-body users'; 'body of urban population'; there is also lack of distinction in the meaning of 'use - usage - utilization' and many more of this kind.

The response and revision

Thank you for your carefulness. We apologize for our carelessness and the language problems in the original manuscript. The language presentation was improved with assistance from a native English speaker with appropriate research background. We checked the manuscript again. We hope these typos and grammatical issues will not appear in the paper again.

• But more importantly, there is a conceptual deficit in the paper. It would be more appropriate to devote a sub-chapter to the concept of 'public space - social space' than to 'habits'. This part contains a rather basic secondary school information. Moreover, there are other related to 'habit' notions - e.g. 'attitude', 'stereotype' which could be considered as well in the discussion of the 'habit' if you decide to keep it. However, it would be more relevant, when you speak about 'public space' and 'public waters', to introduce your definitions. E.g., not every open space is public. For Richard Sennett the places of mere transit are not public spaces. It seems, for you 'public space' coincides with the form of the ownership, but there are other important criteria such as the form of management, even more importantly - the expected/planned/targeted social goals of the entity (open water spots/areas - not bodies). Finally, be very careful in the usage of philosophical terms because when/if they are used inappropriately, this can reveal the lack of preparation of the authors. Finally, do not forget, that the initial idea of Soja was to make people think differently about the space, along the concepts of society and history, in a trialectics of spatiality–historicality–sociality. His entire subsequent theory of Thirdspace is a consequence of that.

The response and revision

We are extremely grateful to you for pointing out this problem. And we are grateful for the suggestion. 

To be more clearly and in accordance with your concerns, we have mainly revised this from three aspects:

First, in the 2d section "Literature Review", we added contents of "habit of practices in public space", which are related to our research from the perspective of the definition, nature and functions of public space, "the practice of public space" and "usage habit of space" The cited literature comes from Qian, J; Orum, A. M.；Amin, A.；Christensen, P. and other scholars, in particular, the public space studied in this paper is a kind of public space in a non-Western context, focusing on the public space plays a central role in social relations and interactions rather than its significance to civic culture and urban democracy. This paper retains the concept of "habit" and studies habit as a behavior pattern formed by the practice of public space under repetition and its way of thinking. Contradictions between usage habits of public space is more like conflicts between habitual thinking and attitude in the use of public space. Finally, with the intervention of public space managers, the use rules of public space are formulated, and this "conflict between habits" is transformed into "conflict between habits and regulations", which is more in line with the research content of this paper.

【Whether in Western or non-Western modern cities, public space always plays a central role in social relations and interactions. Here, the term "public space" is conventionally understood as a space that all members of society can enter freely without restriction: Its concrete physical form is a kind of non-enclosed space in the city such as parks, squares, streets, community open space, waterfront, etc. These spaces constitute the framework of urban space and build a stage for social interactions and relations in modern cities. In the traditions of Western cities, expressing democratic aspirations and political ideals have usually been the basic function of public space. Public space is regarded as a presentation of civic cultures. Meanwhile, there are considerable social meanings buried in the physical form of public space: it is a space for encountering, socializing and communicating, which gives the potential to assemble different groups and identities. In other words, public space integrates different actions, perspectives, identities and meanings. In essence, public space is a product of everyday politics and broader social and cultural transformations. But in some non-Western cities (such as cities in China), public space may not have the normative values conceived in the West, but continuous constructions of social relations and meanings are built in extensive uses, possessions, and contentions conducted by multiple subjects and social and cultural groups. During these processes, their rights to public space are defined. In short, based on relational histories and mutual implications between cities and places, public space’s constitution to its power to affect society has become an important resource for individuals and communities in everyday life.

The practice of public space is the process of taking, using, and making public space carried out by different subjects. In order to meet their own needs and interests, different cultural groups set specific ways of practical use of public space to meet their own needs and interests. As a result, their ideologies, emotions and meanings are engraved on public landscapes, achieving their purpose of place making. As Christensen and Mikkelsen believe, public space is “always contested and imbued with social meaning”. Sometimes, different practices in the same public space are at peace with each other. Such inclusiveness, accessibility or public ownership constitute the publicity of public space. But there are also competitions or exclusions in public space: the practice of public space is full of uncertainty and internal contradictions due to conflicting presentations, ideologies or powers of subjects who are taking, using and making the space. Abundant studies on public space emphasise this moment of exclusion, conflict and struggle: such as, the conflict between buskers and pedestrians in the streets; Competitions between square dancer and other square users of community open space, etc. The social construction of social relations, cultural meanings and powers in public space is constantly produced in coexisting or incompatible practices.

When the practice of public space becomes a repetitive pattern, the usage habit of space is formed. Habit touches the core of how we understand the continuity of practice in public space. For subjects who are taking, using and making urban space, habit is not only an immediate action; it is a recurring pattern of behaviour. Many scholars associate habits with “behaviour” and believe that automatic, unthinking, and repetitive behaviours are habits. But some scholars such as Dewsbury believe that habit is not limited to the “conditioned” type of patterned behaviour, it rather implies a disposition process through which we gain sense, understanding and awareness. Specific habits include all perceiving, cognising, imagining, recalling, judging, conceiving, and reasoning. The consideration such as “what can we do in public spaces” is a mode of attitude, definition or redefinition process of usage habits that we need to pay close attention to while we are investigating public space. In the perspective of habit, contradictions of spatial practices become contradictions between the usage habits of public space. Then public space is reconfigured and negotiated in the interaction of different subjects through repeated habit conflicts.

In some cases, the contradictions between usage habits of public space can be transformed into the contradictions between regulations and habits. It is precisely for the incompatible condition of competition and exclusion happening in public space, regulatory system is designed by managers and administrators. The goal is to achieve rationalisation and acceptable regulation. Usage habits of public space begins to be restricted under particular regulations and governance: even parks which seem to be apparently free remain under the control by administering authority or street office. At the same time, usage habits of public space are also limited by functions designated by architects, landscape architects and urban planners. Under the neoliberal urban policy, some cities prioritize the profit and financial benefits which brought by space when they are making their public space regulations. For example, motivated by objectives of city beautification, attracting wealthy class and private investors, “exclusion zones” which are used to keep marginalized groups such as the poor, the homeless or street vendors out of public space have been constructed during the course of construction, maintenance and policing in parks, streets, waterfront and plazas. In the competitions of different subjects for public space, regulators choose their side and decide who is the “winner” by formulating and promulgating regulations and carrying out administrative managements accordingly. The habits that meet regulatory requirements are regarded as grounding norms and conventions. But some preexisting habits or behaviors accustomed to the past, such as street vending, are regarded as bad habits that cause chaos and undermine the dominant vision of urban dominant visions of security, civility and modernity.】

Second, in the 2nd section “Literature Review”, we change the title “Uses of Public Water Bodies” into “2.2. Public Water Bodies: A Kind of Public Space?” In some cases, public water bodies also have the nature of public space - therefore, the conflict of public space also exists in public waters. The sustainability of public water use not only includes its economic benefits and environmental benefits, but also its social equity is as important as cultural vitality - which is the focus of this paper. Therefore, the case of contradictions between winter swimmers and public water administrators in Beijing is an innovation to explore the sustainability of the use of public waters.

Third, in the 2nd section "literature review", we added contents in “2.3. The Trialetics of Spaciality”. We added the theoretical basis of the Tialetics of Spaciality. Lefebvre and soja's theoretical innovation make people think differently about the space:

【Lefebvre thinks that, social ontology and epistemology must be reconstructed, that is, by adding a third dimension of “spatiality” together with historicality and sociality. On this basis, Lefebvre puts forward his famous spatial triad which includes representations of space, representational space in parallel with spatial practices. Lefebvre's epistemology of space has broken the traditional way of thinking of the dualism of material space and spiritual space. It regards the material, spiritual and social space as an integral whole】

In addition, we also added the explanation of the Trialetics of Spatiality on the applicability of this study:

【In other words, the emerging new ideas in Thirdspace continue to oppose the existing ideas in Secondspace. It contains new contradictions and new forms that constantly appear in our daily life; using resistance or transcendence, it brings deconstructions and tentative reconstructions on Firstspace and the Secondspace as a whole. A new open choice that is both similar and different from the former has been created from it. Such an analysis emphases the struggles and compromises set the stage. It would show us how is the usage habits and regulations of public water bodies negotiated repeatedly, and help us explore more public water management possibilities. The dialectical unification relations of Firstspace, Secondspace and Thirdspace are a spiralling transcendence. This “retrospective progress” provides ideas for us to understand the spatial pattern change of winter swimming in Beijing.】

Please see the detailed revises in the relative paragraphs.

Besides the above revises, we made some other revises.

 

Our deepest gratitude goes to you for your careful work and thoughtful suggestions that have helped improve this paper substantially. At last, Thank you again for your valuable comments.

Best Regards.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.doc

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors incorporated all the comments. The article is suitable for publication.

Author Response

We appreciate your positive evaluation of our work and agree with the comments regarding the limitations of our study.

Best Regards.

Reviewer 3 Report

I see a serious improvement in your work, especially the added part about public space. However, concerning the language of the article, it still needs a more careful editing and 'poilishing' - "open/public water bodies" can be simply called "open/public waters". Why do you use future tense in the first sentence of the Abstract? There is often unnecessary complication of the sentences like 'The practice of public space is the process of taking, using, and making public space carried out by different subjects' (114-115). It is not clear what does it mean "to take public space"? The sentence can become: 'The practice of public space is the process of using and making of public space by different subjects'. There are much more examples like this showing the need of a good language editor. In the final sentence of the conclusion (706-707) "Through the roles of different subjects in the Trialectics of Spatiality, the examination and evaluation of the existing dominant space are completed transcendentally" - it is irrelevant to speak here about transcendentality. Finally, you can add in the Conclusion as least one sentence in what way the use of urban public waters and winter swimming are related to the issue of sustainability - the sustainable use of public waters and/or something else? 

Author Response

To reviewer 3:

We are honored to have your approval of the changes we made to the article. Your comments are very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding to our researches. We have made correction which we hope meet with approval. We used the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word to revise our paper. The main corrections in the paper and the point-to-point responses are as flowing.

Comments and Suggestions for Authors:

• I see a serious improvement in your work, especially the added part about public space. However, concerning the language of the article, it still needs a more careful editing and 'poilishing' - "open/public water bodies" can be simply called "open/public waters". Why do you use future tense in the first sentence of the Abstract? There is often unnecessary complication of the sentences like 'The practice of public space is the process of taking, using, and making public space carried out by different subjects' (114-115). It is not clear what does it mean "to take public space"? The sentence can become: 'The practice of public space is the process of using and making of public space by different subjects'. There are much more examples like this showing the need of a good language editor. In the final sentence of the conclusion (706-707) "Through the roles of different subjects in the Trialectics of Spatiality, the examination and evaluation of the existing dominant space are completed transcendentally" - it is irrelevant to speak here about transcendentality. Finally, you can add in the Conclusion as least one sentence in what way the use of urban public waters and winter swimming are related to the issue of sustainability - the sustainable use of public waters and/or something else? 

The response and revision

Thank you again for your comments and suggestions on this article. We further polished the text.

(1) For the question of "open/public water bodies" and "open/public waters". Thank you very much for your advice! And after inquiry and confirmation with Professor with native English-speaking background, we decided to change the term "public water bodies" to "public waters".

(2) For the problem of future tense in the Abstract, we have modified it as requested.

(3) 'The practice of public space is the process of taking, using, and making public space carried out by different subjects' (114-115) has been changed into 'The practice of public space is the process of using and making of public space by different subjects'. Great appreciation for your suggestion!

(4) In the final sentence of the conclusion (706-707) "Through the roles of different subjects in the Trialectics of Spatiality, the examination and evaluation of the existing dominant space are completed transcendentally" – We have changed it into “Through the roles of different subjects in the Trialectics of Spatiality, the examination and evaluation of the existing dominant space are completed in a form of go beyond itself.”

(5) Finally, we added the context of our contribute to sustainability of water use in the Conclusion.

【The second conclusion is that after three gradual signs of progress in the Trialectics of Spatiality, Firstspace not only preserves the winter swimming space for Beijingers but also avoids the current contradictions due to different utilisations of the public waters between urban residents. Thus, the efficiency of urban space utilisation is constantly improved. This article enriches the studies on sustainability of water use: especially in terms of cultural vitality.】

Our deepest gratitude goes to you for your careful work and thoughtful suggestions that have helped improve this paper substantially. At last, Thank you again for your valuable comments.

Best Regards.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.doc