On the Optimal Allocation of Urban and Rural Land Resources in Rapidly Urbanizing Areas of the Yangtze River Delta, China: A Case Study of the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Please see the attachment
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Comment 1:
In the abstract section of the article, it is suggested to add a relevant description of how to conduct urban and rural land use spatial planning guidance.
Response:
Thank you for your approval and suggestions. Based on your suggestions we have revised the abstract section of the article and added the main conclusions.
Comment 2:
In the study area overview section, it is recommended to add a relevant description of the current land use status of the study area.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Based on your suggestions we have added a description of the current land use situation in the study area section as follows, “The current construction land area is 152 square kilometers, accounting for 39.35% of the total land area, other construction land area is 13.6 square kilometers, accounting for 3.53% of the total land area, and non-construction land area is 220.6 square kilometers, accounting for 57.12% of the total land area”.
Comment 3:
Fig.1 and Fig.4 need to be optimized, the scale of Fig.1 is too small to see, and the legend of Fig.4 is too small in font.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Based on your suggestions, we have modified Figure 1 and Figure 4.
Comment 4:
The most innovative point of the article is the introduction of the concept of flow space and the construction of a spatial organization model of "human-land" flow, which is based on the spatial flow of the population in the region and breaks the limitation of the administrative jurisdiction on the land use plan index and the planning space allocation. This is a high guideline for the planning of new urban areas in China. It is suggested that the authors can further highlight the innovative points.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Based on your suggestions and those of other experts, the discussion in our article is presented as a separate section, and additional changes have been made to the innovative and insufficient parts of the article.
Comment 5:
The conclusion section suggests further summary refinement and focus.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion.Based on your and other experts' suggestions, we have summarized and refined the conclusion section of the article and added policy recommendations for similar regions.
Reviewer 2 Report
This paper takes the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area as a case study to construct an analytical framework for regional population-land-industry (PLI) by coupling coordination relationship and spatial organization model of population-land flow to calculate the coupling coordination degree of PLI factors. The results will improve the space utilization efficiency of urban and rural areas. However, the following parts need to be addressed before publication.
(1) What are the advantages for spatial organization model of population-land flow adopted in this paper? please add in Introduction part. Besides, there are some studies on land optimization in Jiangbei New Area, also cite that to comparison.
(2) What are the D and H means at line 209? It was inconsistent with Table 1.
(3) The PLI of the rapid urbanization area of NJNA has a coupling degree of 0.7085, a coupling coordination degree of 0.4759, and a comprehensive evaluation index of 0.5807 for the coupling coordination degree. What was background value? Give more introduction.
(4) The results in Figure 4 were not clear.
(5) The results were lack of comparison with other research.
(6) The contents should be adjusted. Such as from line 397 to line 405, it is the methods.
(7) English need to improve.
Author Response
Comment 1:
What are the advantages for spatial organization model of population-land flow adopted in this paper? please add in Introduction part. Besides, there are some studies on land optimization in Jiangbei New Area, also cite that to comparison.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. In the last part of the introduction, we describe the advantages of the spatial organization model of the PL flow, and also cite the current research on the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area. The content is as follows, “In view of the social nature of humans and the spatial variability in population flow, how are population flows coordinated and optimized, the allocation of land resource factors optimized, space utilization efficiency utilized, and integrated urban‒rural development coordinated in the typical regional process of rapid urbanization? This question needs to be further answered from both theoretical and practical perspectives, and it is necessary to strengthen research and start addressing the problem, especially at the level of new na-tional areas with an exemplary and leading role in regional development. Therefore, this study analyses the coordination degree of population–land–industry (PLI) coupling in rapidly urbanizing regions, constructs a model to measure the threshold value of urban and rural construction land scales, builds a spatial organization model of PL flow based on population flow data, and conducts spatial overlay analysis. The model is based on population flow data, and a spatial organization model of PL flow is constructed for spa-tial overlay analysis. The model can identify the coordination between population flow and land-use allocation more clearly by combining the regional population flow situation and then propose differential allocation of construction land indicators, which is expected to provide spatial analysis support for optimizing the spatial layout of regional urban and rural land resources.”
Comment 2:
What are the D and H means at line 209? It was inconsistent with Table 1.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Due to our carelessness resulted in a writing error, after checking we have changed D to C, C for coupling degree and H for coupling coordination degree.
Comment 3:
The PLI of the rapid urbanization area of NJNA has a coupling degree of 0.7085, a coupling coordination degree of 0.4759, and a comprehensive evaluation index of 0.5807 for the coupling coordination degree. What was background value? Give more introduction.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. We calculated the coupling coordination degree of rapidly developing urbanized regions by using three indicators: population urbanization rate, land urbanization rate and non-agricultural industry development rate, which are calculated by Equation 1 and Equation 2. Population urbanization rate indicates the proportion of urban population to total population, land urbanization rate indicates the proportion of urban construction land to total urban area, and non-agricultural industry development rate indicates the proportion of secondary industry and tertiary industry. In addition, in order to avoid ambiguity and correspondence between the preceding and following contents, we modify this part of the text description as follows, “the PLI of the rapid urbanization area of NJNA has a coupling degree of 0.7085, a com-prehensive evaluation index of 0.4759, and a coupling coordination degree of 0.5807, which is in the moderate range. The PLI of the spatial agglomeration area of agricultural development in NJNA (formerly Liuhe District) has a coupling degree of 0.8221, a comprehensive evaluation index of 0.1284, and a coupling coordination degree of 0.3248”.
Comment 4:
The results in Figure 4 were not clear.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Combining your comments and those of other experts, we have revised Figure 4 to make it clearer and richer.
Comment 5:
The results were lack of comparison with other research.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Based on your and other experts' suggestions, we present the main research advances on land resource optimization at home and abroad in the introduction section of the article. At the same time, we have added a comparison of methodological differences with other studies in the discussion section to highlight the originality of our research.
Comment 6:
The contents should be adjusted. Such as from line 397 to line 405, it is the methods.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. According to your suggestion we have moved lines 397 to 405 to the Research Methods section.
Comment 7:
English need to improve.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. We have had our revised articles touched up in English by a professional touch-up agency (American Journal Editor, https://www.aje.cn/), which makes our English writing more professional.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Thank you for reviewing possibility of paper titled On the optimal allocation of urban and rural land resources in rapid urbanization areas of the Yangtze River Delta, China: A case study of Nanjing Jiangbei New Area. I have some suggestions that might improve the paper.
The goal of the paper is unclear. The goal should flow from previous studies. Also "analyzing" of something is not enough for scientific paper. Also what new authors introduce to current knowledge should be shown.
Authors should explain more clearly therm "national new areas in China" It could be clear for Chinese readers, but not for international audience.
In Discussion authors should also discuss their findings with other studies
Land is the international Journal, so some general remarks useful in other regions and countries should be added in Conclusions.
good luck with your paper!
Author Response
Comment 1:
The goal of the paper is unclear. The goal should flow from previous studies. Also "analyzing" of something is not enough for scientific paper. Also what new authors introduce to current knowledge should be shown.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Based on your and other experts' suggestions, we have divided the introduction section into two parts: introduction and literature review. Among them, in the introduction section we introduced the background of the study and add the main objectives of the study. In the literature review section, we described the relevant domestic and international studies on the optimal allocation of land resources, and further add the shortcomings of the existing studies and the scientific significance of the research in this paper. At the same time, we have added modifications to the research results and discussion section to make our study more scientific and standardized.
Comment 2:
Authors should explain more clearly therm "national new areas in China" It could be clear for Chinese readers, but not for international audience.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. We have included in the study area profile an introduction to the hierarchy of development zones in China, and the hierarchy of development zones to which Jiangbei New Area belongs, which will make it easier for foreign readers to understand.
Comment 3:
In Discussion authors should also discuss their findings with other studies
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Based on your suggestions and those of other experts, we have added a comparison of methodological differences with other studies in the discussion section of the article.
Comment 4:
Land is the international Journal, so some general remarks useful in other regions and countries should be added in Conclusions.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Based on your suggestions and those of other experts, we have made additional changes to the conclusion section of the article, adding useful suggestions for similarly developed regions.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
I feel that the paper is well written. However, there are some points to be revised.
1. Introduction is too long. How about suggesting subsections or making a literature review section?
2. Please show the paper's originality by comparison with plentiful existing documents in the discussion section.
3. I feel that figure 4 is too simple, and the guideline could be suggested without analysis. Please show the more sophisticated results with maps.
4. Please make the conclusion section separately. Because the role of the conclusion shows the significance of the paper with a summary.
Author Response
Comment 1:
Introduction is too long. How about suggesting subsections or making a literature review section?.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. We have divided the introductory section into two parts: the introduction and the literature review.
Comment 2:
Please show the paper's originality by comparison with plentiful existing documents in the discussion section.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Based on your and other experts' suggestions, we present the main research advances on land resource optimization at home and abroad in the introduction section of the article. At the same time, we have added a comparison of methodological differences with other studies in the discussion section to highlight the originality of our research.
Comment 3:
I feel that figure 4 is too simple, and the guideline could be suggested without analysis. Please show the more sophisticated results with maps.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. Through the overlapping spatial analysis of the spatial layout of the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area in terms of PL flow and the current layout of urban construction land, we proposed the spatial optimization of the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area and used Figure 4 as the spatial representation. Meanwhile, according to your and other experts' suggestions, we have modified and improved Figure 4 to make it more informative.
Comment 4:
Please make the conclusion section separately. Because the role of the conclusion shows the significance of the paper with a summary.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. We have separated out the conclusion section.
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
I accept in present form
