Spatiotemporal Evolution and Transformation Regulation Strategies of Rural Residential Land on the Grand Canal (China)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript has a topical choice of topic, it raises many relevant questions. And it is worth appreciating that the authors also propose practical models.

I think the article title and keywords are somewhat inaccurate since the authors do not study the entire People's Republic of China from the point of view of their research, but only the Grand Canal area. For this reason, the area of the Grand Canal should be included in the title and one of the keywords.

The choice of the Grand Canal as a research area, since it is not considered an administratively or naturally independent region, along which, moreover, there are partly significant social and infrastructural differences, seems to me somewhat theoretical and even a little self-serving. For this reason, if possible, the authors should be given more objective reasons as to why they chose this area of research, and not e.g. one of the larger areas along one of the major Chinese rivers. To what extent does their chosen field of research appear as an independent region in the Chinese public thinking? And is there a development policy at the state or province level that specifically targets all or part of this Grand Canal research area?

The authors write very little about the effects of Chinese provinces on the Grand Canal research area. Although there are large cities here that are independent of provinces, there are, as far as I know, others that are more subordinate to provinces. However, as far as I know, provinces in China can also pursue their own urban development and rural development policies, partly independently of the central government. For this reason, I ask, to what extent have the processes taking place within the study area been influenced/could have been influenced by the different urban development and rural development policies of the geographically affected provinces? Very little is written about this by the authors, and it would be advisable to mention more. And if the impact of Chinese provinces is more significant, then all provinces should be covered related to the questions of this research and how geographically they affect the area studied by the authors, and even the province boundaries could be marked on maps.

I suppose that the authors do not explain some concepts and data enough to global readers. For example, the manuscript says very little about how the ownership and rent rights of residential plots and land of people living in rural or peri-urban areas will change as a result of dynamically increasing urbanization, although I think these property and rental rights are partly special in the People's Republic of China. For example, internationally it is not yet fully known, in my view, that, as far as I know, in the People's Republic of China, the state or local communities basically own a lot of land, but the population owns less land as individuals. Related to this, I assume that the term "rural residential land", which is often used in the manuscript, should also be better explained legally and in terms of land use change. Instead of mu, a metric unit should be used throughout (values expressed in mu can also be given in parentheses).

In the pilot area examined by the authors, significant rural/near-urban land-use and landownership changes are taking place, with their social, economic and ecological effects, which also create significant land-use planning and social management demands for local and higher-level political and administrative systems. For this reason, more about its competent local or higher-level political and administrative bodies and actors/agents should be written about in the introductory part of the study for the global reader.

The authors suggest that there is also a possibility of creating some new farmland, as the "new farmland" option. However, since urbanization in the study area is very dynamic, I am interested to know how the "new farmland option" compares to the loss of agricultural land within the whole area, and to what extent can it compensate for it.

The manuscript does not contain any "research limitation" comments, although they obviously exist in connection with the essentially quantitative examination of the authors. I raise a few points in this regard that could be addressed here.

• The sources, reliability and validity of the data used for statistical analysis should be described in more detail.

• I suppose that it would be important to distinguish between correlation and causality when interpreting authors' results. The associations found in this study may be interesting, but they do not necessarily imply causation in all cases.

• The authors' research can be enriched by multivariate analyses that allow the interaction of several factors together. For example, the use of regression models can help us understand how different variables influence each other, thereby nuanced the conclusions drawn by the authors.

• Do authors have data after 2020, if not, why not?

• Were annual data used for the period 1990-2020?

• According to the authors, to what extent can their research results be generalized to other areas of China, e.g. along main rivers, which may have similar characteristics to the authors' sample areas?

The maps used by the authors are basically adequate, but they have very low resolution, which makes them difficult to read. This should be improved. Figure 10 shows useful models, but what would green dotting mean here, rural area possibly?

I think there is still room in the manuscript for the changes in content and form I proposed.

The text is reads relatively well, but sometimes there are incorrect gaps or space duplicates or incorrect word repetition. 

Author Response

Thank you for the valuable comments. According to your comments and suggestions, this article is revised as follows:

Reviewer1

1. I think the article title and keywords are somewhat inaccurate since the authors do not study the entire People's Republic of China from the point of view of their research, but only the Grand Canal area. For this reason, the area of the Grand Canal should be included in the title and one of the keywords.

Revisions: According to the reviewer’s comments, we added the Grand Canal in the title and the key words as the following.

“Spatiotemporal evolution and transformation regulation strategies of rural residential land on the Grand Canal (China)”

“Keywords: rural residential land; transformation regulation; potential for rural residential land improvement；the Grand Canal”

2. The choice of the Grand Canal as a research area, since it is not considered an administratively or naturally independent region, along which, moreover, there are partly significant social and infrastructural differences, seems to me somewhat theoretical and even a little self-serving. For this reason, if possible, the authors should be given more objective reasons as to why they chose this area of research, and not e.g. one of the larger areas along one of the major Chinese rivers. To what extent does their chosen field of research appear as an independent region in the Chinese public thinking? And is there a development policy at the state or province level that specifically targets all or part of this Grand Canal research area?

Revisions: Because the Beijing Hangzhou Canal is a famous river that connects some important cities in northern and southern China, this article aims to propose a strip study and select cities along the canal to highlight the differences between cities in northern and southern China. It shows readers the relationship between China's social and economic development in the north and south and the spatiotemporal differentiation of rural residential land. According to the reviewer’s comments, we added more reasons to explain why we chose the Grand Canal as a research area of rural residential land as the following.

“The 21 cities that the Grand Canal flows through are economically developed cities in China, with a rapid increase in urbanization level. A large number of rural population flows into cities, and a large amount of rural land is converted into urban construction land. Thus, this study chooses rural residential land in these 21 cities as the research object, which can more deeply analyze the spatiotemporal changes and driving factors of rural residential areas in China's rapid urbanization process. At the same time, it can also reveal the differences in the development of cities in northern and southern China and their impact on changes in rural residential land.The Grand Canal flows through cities, which is a region of great research value. Currently, different cities are proposing appropriate support policies and practical explorations around the development of the canal. Thus, this study also has certain enlightening value for the connection and coordinated development of cities along the Grand Canal.”

3. The authors write very little about the effects of Chinese provinces on the Grand Canal research area. Although there are large cities here that are independent of provinces, there are, as far as I know, others that are more subordinate to provinces. However, as far as I know, provinces in China can also pursue their own urban development and rural development policies, partly independently of the central government. For this reason, I ask, to what extent have the processes taking place within the study area been influenced/could have been influenced by the different urban development and rural development policies of the geographically affected provinces? Very little is written about this by the authors, and it would be advisable to mention more. And if the impact of Chinese provinces is more significant, then all provinces should be covered related to the questions of this research and how geographically they affect the area studied by the authors, and even the province boundaries could be marked on maps.

Revisions: I agree to the reviewer’s comments, the policies in different provinces have large influence on rural development, and affect the changes in rural residential land. This study chose 21 cities to showed the influence of different development policies on rural residential land. Thus, in this article, we mainly consider the differences in urban units, and suitable development policies can also be formulated in Chinese cities themselves.According to the reviewer’s comments, we added the province boundaries could be marked on maps in Figure 1and list some examples of urban development policies as the following:

“Due to the natural environment, development policies, and land development intensity, there are significant differences in socioeconomic development between the regions. Likewise, there are significant differences in rural land use. Cities with high levels of urbanization, such as Beijing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, are driving the transformation of rural land into urban construction land at a significantly faster pace than cities with lower levels of urbanization, such as Cangzhou, Dezhou, and Zaozhuang.”

4.I suppose that the authors do not explain some concepts and data enough to global readers. For example, the manuscript says very little about how the ownership and rent rights of residential plots and land of people living in rural or peri-urban areas will change as a result of dynamically increasing urbanization, although I think these property and rental rights are partly special in the People's Republic of China. For example, internationally it is not yet fully known, in my view, that, as far as I know, in the People's Republic of China, the state or local communities basically own a lot of land, but the population owns less land as individuals. Related to this, I assume that the term "rural residential land", which is often used in the manuscript, should also be better explained legally and in terms of land use change. Instead of mu, a metric unit should be used throughout (values expressed in mu can also be given in parentheses).

Revisions: According to the reviewer’s comments, we added the explain of rural residential land and mu as the following.

“Rural residential land refers to the settlement places where people gather for production and life. This article specifically refers to the land used by rural villagers for the construction of housing and buildings and facilities related to residential life.”

“Mu is a unit of land area in China, approximately 666.667 square meters. Fifteen mus equals one hectare.”

5.In the pilot area examined by the authors, significant rural/near-urban land-use and landownership changes are taking place, with their social, economic and ecological effects, which also create significant land-use planning and social management demands for local and higher-level political and administrative systems. For this reason, more about its competent local or higher-level political and administrative bodies and actors/agents should be written about in the introductory part of the study for the global reader.

Revisions: According to the reviewer’s comments, we added more local or higher-level political and administrative bodies and actors/agents in Introduction.

“The newly revised ‘Land Management Law of the People's Republic of China’ in 2022 stipulates that rural villagers can own one homestead per household and that the villagers should use the abandoned homestead and land in the village for residential construction. This also indicates that most county and district governments will no longer approve the addition of new rural homesteads. Rural residential land can be adjusted only to its original scale. However, over time, the structure and function of rural residential land are constantly changing, from the residential and production functions of the traditional agricultural period to the public service functions of the new era. Rural residential land is constantly being transformed into public service land, commercial land, and park green space  [35]. Now, in the hot stage of rural revitalization in China, rural residential land is the core of development and an important carrier of rural revitalization [36]. Rural residential land is a rural asset with potential economic value. In 2023, the Chinese government proposed the withdrawal of the three rights of homestead land, which refers to farmers withdrawing their house ownership, homestead land use rights, and land contract management rights. By handing over the three rights to the government, farmers can receive corresponding compensation. The government can effectively utilize idle rural homesteads, promote market transactions of homesteads, and turn them into collective land, thereby promoting local economic development.”

6.The authors suggest that there is also a possibility of creating some new farmland, as the "new farmland" option. However, since urbanization in the study area is very dynamic, I am interested to know how the "new farmland option" compares to the loss of agricultural land within the whole area, and to what extent can it compensate for it.

Revisions: Thank you for the reviewer’s comments. In this article, we calculated the potential for rural residential land improvement based on the potential model of land consolidation and the standard of residential land area in China. In the article, we introduced the main sources and destinations of rural residential land, which mainly come from arable land and mainly go to urban construction land and arable land, which are dynamic changes. From 1990 to 2020, the proportion of rural residential land converted to arable land was 68.1%. The estimated potential for rural residential land improvement in 2020 was 19.7431 million mu, so it can be inferred that approximately 13.4451 million mu can be converted to arable land. Moreover, the Chinese government has introduced a policy of balancing the occupation and compensation of arable land, which means that the amount of arable land occupied must be supplemented, and rural residential land is an important source of supplementary arable land, thus forming a policy of linking increase and decrease.

“ From 1990 to 2020, the main areas that experienced significant changes were agricultural land, urban construction land, and rural residential land. In particular, agricultural land decreased by 23.053 million mu, accounting for 8.1% of the area. Urban construction land increased by 13.722 million mu, accounting for 4.8% of the area, while rural residential land increased by 5.6981 million mu, accounting for 2.5% of the area (Figure 3). It can be seen that the reduced agricultural land, forest land, and grassland on the Grand Canal was converted to urban construction land, rural residential land, or industrial and mining land.”

“According to the Chinese government's policy of linking increase and decrease, rural residential land has been converted into arable land, which can be converted into construction land and sold to cities. This land would then provide a more stable channel for collective economic income through subleasing, transfer, and collective management, providing financial support for the development of new village industries and facilities.”

7.The manuscript does not contain any "research limitation" comments, although they obviously exist in connection with the essentially quantitative examination of the authors. I raise a few points in this regard that could be addressed here.

The sources, reliability and validity of the data used for statistical analysis should be described in more detail.

Revisions: According to the reviewer’s comments, we added the explanation of data sources and reliability as the following. Due to the main use of raster data in this article, spatial data is the main focus, and some data is converted into raster data based on existing vector data spatial analysis, such as distances to major highways and railways.

“This study uses 100 m × 100 m grid data provided by the Resource and Environmental Science Data Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (https://www.resdc.cn/) to analyse the spatiotemporal distribution of rural residential land in 21 cities along the Grand Canal from 1990 to 2020. All socio-economic data is sourced from the statistical yearbooks of 21 cities (1990-2020). We amassed DEM data from the National Geographic Information Centre in China and analysed it through image correction and slope analysis to obtain the elevation and slope of the study area, which represent the regional driving factors of the natural environment (NE). Using the spatial neighbourhood analysis method in ArcGIS 10.2, the study acquired the distances from each grid to major railways, rivers, motorways, or existing urban, county, and town centres. Major rivers (the watershed area exceeds 100 km2 and the river length exceeds 50 km), motorways, and railways are typical transportation arteries in each city centre. The distance from the spatial grid to each transportation artery represents the spatial axis and the driving factor of transportation accessibility (TA). The distance to the city, county, or town centre is measured from the internal grid to the centre of the city/county/town, which represents the spatial point and a driving socioeconomic factor of market location (ML). The current vector data of urban centers, major highways, railways, and other areas used in the study was from 2020 and also sourced from  National Geographic Information Centre in China.”

8.I suppose that it would be important to distinguish between correlation and causality when interpreting authors' results. The associations found in this study may be interesting, but they do not necessarily imply causation in all cases.

Revisions: I agree to th reviewer’s comments. In this article, we attempted to analyze the characteristics of rural residential land in 21 cities along the Beijing Hangzhou Canal, with the aim of highlighting the differences in urban development between northern and southern China. We utilized spatial driving factor analysis proposed by geographic detectors to better classify the types of changes rural residential land driven by 21 cities. The selection of data for research results may have certain limitations, and we will continue to improve the driving factors in the future.

9.The authors' research can be enriched by multivariate analyses that allow the interaction of several factors together. For example, the use of regression models can help us understand how different variables influence each other, thereby nuanced the conclusions drawn by the authors.

Revisions:Thank you for the reviewer’s comment. In this article, because the data of rural residential land is raster data, we mainly choose geographic detectors for driving factor analysis. This analysis method considers the correlation of various factors. As it is spatial raster data, it will have a certain degree of correlation. In the future, we will consider conducting regression analysis between socio-economic data and rural residential land data from an urban perspective, which can more fully demonstrate the influencing factors of rural residential land data.

10. Do authors have data after 2020, if not, why not?

Revisions: Thank you for the reviewer’s comments.  I have the data from 1990 to 2020, not data after 2020. Because data from 2020 onwards has not been publicly disclosed by the Resource and Environmental Science Data Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (https://www.resdc.cn/), and the period of significant changes in rural residential land in China is from 1990 to 2020, which is also a period of rapid urbanization in China, this article chooses 1990 to 2020 as the research period.

11 Were annual data used for the period 1990-2020?

Revisions: Thank you for the reviewer’s comments. The data is not annual data from 1990 to 2020, but data from each decade, namely 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, and the annual changes in rural residential data are sometimes not significant. Therefore, this study is conducted at intervals of 10 years.

“ This study uses 100 m × 100 m grid data provided by the Resource and Environmental Science Data Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (https://www.resdc.cn/) to analyse the spatiotemporal distribution of rural residential land in 21 cities along the Grand Canal from 1990 to 2020 (The data is for each decade, namely 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020). All socio-economic data is sourced from the statistical yearbooks of 21 cities (1990-2020). ”

12. According to the authors, to what extent can their research results be generalized to other areas of China, e.g. along main rivers, which may have similar characteristics to the authors' sample areas?

Revisions: Thank you for the reviewer’s comments. This article proposes a research method for comparing the land use patterns of rural residential areas. Rivers, highways, and railways all exhibit strip like characteristics, so the method used in this article can be used to compare the changes in land use patterns of rural residential areas along the cities. We added the applicability explanation for the study as the following.

“The study focuses on the rural development laws of different cities in the Grand Canal area and on the potential estimation of rural residential land use. At the same time, this article attempts to construct a strip research method, selecting cities along the Grand Canal for comparison, which can better highlight the differences in the distribution of rural residential land along the linear terrain. ”

13.The maps used by the authors are basically adequate, but they have very low resolution, which makes them difficult to read. This should be improved. Figure 10 shows useful models, but what would green dotting mean here, rural area possibly?

Revisions: Thank you for the reviewer’s comments, we have provided high-resolution images and added captions of the image content.

14.I think there is still room in the manuscript for the changes in content and form I proposed.

Revisions: Thank you very much for the review comments, which have improved the content and format of this article.

Reviewer 2 Report

Having read this manuscript, I find it very relevant, rigorous and worthy of publication. The manuscript stands at the interface of land use planning, land policy and rural development. Also, the methods and presentation provide new insights into the spatial differentiation of rural residential land in 21 cities on the Grand Canal in China. Although I find the manuscript to be well-written, I also observed some minor issues worth addressing to make the manuscript more understandable and publishable. My feedback is below.

Abstract: The abstract does not state the methodology (or methods) used for the investigation but goes no to list the findings. A good abstract would have informed readers about the methodology used to arrive at those findings. This needs to be added to improve the abstract (which I already consider to be voluminous). Because the abstract is already voluminous, perhaps the orientation/introductory part and conclusive part could be trimmed down. Furthermore, the author states that “this paper observes...” It would have been best to use words like “investigates” instead of “observe.” The paper can’t observe. It, perhaps, “explores,” “focuses,” “investigates,” “presents” or “probes,” etc.

More confusing lines: Lines 186 says “the study observed the spatial relationship between...” Is this an observation?  Lines 411 and 719 also “observed.” It is one thong to state that “from the result, it was observed that...” and something confusing to state that the paper or study observed.

Citation matters: Lines 161-163 state that “According to the theories of agricultural location, industrial location, and central place, the distance between the city centre and major traffic arteries are important factors affecting rural development.” What are these theories specifically? Why are the theories not cited for reference purpose. Citing them will enable readers to learn more about the sources and imports of these theories.

Figure placements: Put all figures within texts.

Reference: The reference lists indicate (or at least, gives the impression) that the author is not writing for an international audience. It seems the citations are all Chinese focused with little room for non-Chinese audience or literature. This journal is an international/global journal, and the writings should be tailored to a global audience.

The English problems are minor.

Author Response

Dear reviewers,

Thank you for the valuable comments. According to your comments and suggestions, this article is revised as follows:

1.Abstract: The abstract does not state the methodology (or methods) used for the investigation but goes no to list the findings. A good abstract would have informed readers about the methodology used to arrive at those findings. This needs to be added to improve the abstract (which I already consider to be voluminous). Because the abstract is already voluminous, perhaps the orientation/introductory part and conclusive part could be trimmed down. Furthermore, the author states that “this paper observes...” It would have been best to use words like “investigates” instead of “observe.” The paper can’t observe. It, perhaps, “explores,” “focuses,” “investigates,” “presents” or “probes,” etc.

Revisions: According to the reviewer’s comments, we revised the abstract as the following. The methods is “spatial grid analysis, the geographic detector model and improved potential model for rural residential land improvement”.

“Land use is an embodiment of human socioeconomic activities and represents a bridge between these activities and natural systems. Rural residential land represents a space for rural residents to reside in and exhibits spatial characteristics that evolve over time, which is proof of rural socioeconomic development. As one of the most developed regions in China, cities along the Beijing Hangzhou Canal experienced significant changes in rural residential land use from 1990 to 2020. This paper analyses the spatial differentiation of rural residential land in 21 cities on the Grand Canal. Then, it explores the driving factors of this land using spatial grid analysis and the geographic detector model.According to the spatial differentiation characteristics and the driving factors of rural residential land, the study proposed an improved potential model for rural residential land improvement. Lastly, it proposes three different forms of rural residential land based on the results. The study found that: (1) the change of rural residential land in the northern part of the Grand Canal was more volatile than that in the southern part. The change of rural residential land from 1990 to 2020 conformed to the pattern of cultivated land - rural residential land - urban construction land. (2) Based on the driving factors of rural residential land, the land is divided into one-dimensional cities, two-dimensional cities and three-dimensional cities. Circular, linear, and scattered cities of different sizes were affected by socioeconomic factors, transportation accessibility, and the natural environment, respectively. (3) Based on the potential scale of rural residential land consolidation, different types of development strategies were proposed through research including constructing large-scale villages, relocating and reconstructing new villages, and constructing high-quality villages, respectively. Enhancing the scientific planning of rural residential land and its efficiency, and tapping into the potential of land consolidation can offer the protection of agricultural land and the integration of urban and rural areas in the new era.”

2.More confusing lines: Lines 186 says “the study observed the spatial relationship between...” Is this an observation?  Lines 411 and 719 also “observed.” It is one thong to state that “from the result, it was observed that...” and something confusing to state that the paper or study observed.

Revisions:Thank you for the reviewer’s comments, we revised the the expression form of “observed”.

3.Citation matters: Lines 161-163 state that “According to the theories of agricultural location, industrial location, and central place, the distance between the city centre and major traffic arteries are important factors affecting rural development.” What are these theories specifically? Why are the theories not cited for reference purpose. Citing them will enable readers to learn more about the sources and imports of these theories.

Revisions: According to the reviewer’s comments, we added theoretical explanations as the following.

“The theory of agricultural location points out that agricultural areas centered around cities, distributed in a concentric circle from the inside out, have regional differences in production base and profit income due to different distances from the central city. The theory of industrial location points out that transportation is an important factor affecting the selection of industrial location and the production site, could attract enterprises to the location with the lowest production costs and the greatest cost savings. The central place theory suggests that the most important central area may not necessarily be the most populous, but it is the most critical location in the transportation network and can provide a wide range of goods and services. Thus, according to the theories of agricultural location, industrial location, and central place, the distance between the city centre and major traffic arteries are important factors affecting rural development.”

4.Figure placements: Put all figures within texts.

Revisions: According to the reviewer’s comments, we added all figures within texts.

5.Reference: The reference lists indicate (or at least, gives the impression) that the author is not writing for an international audience. It seems the citations are all Chinese focused with little room for non-Chinese audience or literature. This journal is an international/global journal, and the writings should be tailored to a global audience.

Revisions: Thank you for the reviewer’s comments, we revised the reference lists.

“34.Zou, L.L., Liu, Y.S., Yang, S. F.,et al.Quantitative identification and spatial analysis of land use ecological-production-living functions in rural areas on China's southeast coast.Habitat International, 2020, 100,102182.

35.Carmen, C.F., and Elena, G.I.Determinants of Residential Land-Use Conversion and Sprawl at the Rural-Urban Fringe.American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2004, 86(4),889-904..

36.Lopolito, R.D.M.E .Translating local stakeholders' perception in rural development strategies under uncertainty conditions: An application to the case of the bio-based economy in the area of Foggia (South Italy).Journal of Rural Studies, 2015, 37,61-74.

54.Weber, B., Jensen, L., Miller, K.,et al.A Critical Review of Rural Poverty Literature: Is There Truly a Rural Effect? Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Paper No. 1309-05.International Regional ence Review, 2005, 28(4),381-414.”

Reviewer 3 Report

The article includes an analysis of the spatial-temporal evolution and transformation regulation strategies of rural residential land in China.

The article presents a new approach to land use changes. Below are some controversial comments that are worth supplementing in the article.

The article is based on spatial data and the use of geographic detector models to analyze the impact of various factors on rural land use. However, the methodology may be subject to limitations such as the precision and timeliness of spatial data, which may affect the results. Please comment on these issues.

The authors' analysis of the drivers of change in rural residential land focuses mainly on market location, transport accessibility and the natural environment. There is a lack of deeper understanding of the impact of policies, demographic changes, cultural preferences and other social factors that also play a key role in shaping the rural residential land an rural landscape.

The authors propose strategies to improve the use of residential land in rural areas, such as the construction of large villages through relocation and consolidation, the construction of new villages and the expansion of advanced villages, may not fully address the complexity of the challenges faced by different rural communities. It is important that these recommendations are supported by more detailed economic, social and environmental analysis and take into account local conditions and needs.

The authors propose strategies to improve the use of residential land in rural areas, such as constructing large-scale villages, relocating and reconstructing new villages, and constructing high-quality villages, may not fully address the complexity of the challenges faced by different rural communities. It is important that these recommendations are supported by more detailed economic, social and environmental analysis and take into account local conditions and needs.

Author Response

Dear reviewers,

Thank you for the valuable comments. According to your comments and suggestions, this article is revised as follows:

1.The article includes an analysis of the spatial-temporal evolution and transformation regulation strategies of rural residential land in China.The article presents a new approach to land use changes. Below are some controversial comments that are worth supplementing in the article.The article is based on spatial data and the use of geographic detector models to analyze the impact of various factors on rural land use. However, the methodology may be subject to limitations such as the precision and timeliness of spatial data, which may affect the results. Please comment on these issues.

Revisions: Thank you for the reviewer’s comments.This article selected land use grid data from 1990 to 2020, which was provided by the Resource and Environmental Science Data Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (https://www.resdc.cn/) and has undergone spatial correction. As land spatial data has not been published since 2020, the research chose to end in 2020, and the period from 1990 to 2020 is a period of rapid urbanization in China, with significant changes in rural residential land area. In the future, if data can be obtained after 2020, research will further analyze and update the comparison results of the data.

2.The authors' analysis of the drivers of change in rural residential land focuses mainly on market location, transport accessibility and the natural environment. There is a lack of deeper understanding of the impact of policies, demographic changes, cultural preferences and other social factors that also play a key role in shaping the rural residential land an rural landscape.

Revisions: Thank you for the reviewer’s comments.This article mainly considers the driving factors of spatial differentiation of rural residential land from a spatial perspective, and therefore proposes a three-dimensional driving force system of environmental location market location transportation location, aiming to discuss the driving factors of spatial distribution of rural residential land. We strongly agree that the reviewer's rural settlements are influenced by factors such as policies and socio-economic factors, and the paper uses spatial location factors instead of socio-economic factors. This is also the problem that this article will consider solving in the future. By rasterizing statistical data in space, it can comprehensively analyze the influencing factors of spatiotemporal changes in rural residential land use.

3.The authors propose strategies to improve the use of residential land in rural areas, such as the construction of large villages through relocation and consolidation, the construction of new villages and the expansion of advanced villages, may not fully address the complexity of the challenges faced by different rural communities. It is important that these recommendations are supported by more detailed economic, social and environmental analysis and take into account local conditions and needs.

Revisions: Thank you for the reviewer’s comments very much. Due to the influence of the length and content of the article, the strategies proposed in the end of our paper are relatively macro. Through the analysis of the potential and spatial differentiation characteristics of rural residential land improvement, we propose development direction suggestions for different types of villages. A more detailed rural community improvement and development plan is the focus of this study in the future, and we will select specific villages in different regions for analysis.

1. The authors propose strategies to improve the use of residential land in rural areas, such as constructing large-scale villages, relocating and reconstructing new villages, and constructing high-quality villages, may not fully address the complexity of the challenges faced by different rural communities. It is important that these recommendations are supported by more detailed economic, social and environmental analysis and take into account local conditions and needs.

Revisions: Thank you for the reviewer’s good comments very much.In the future, we will conduct more detailed research on rural residential land use. We fully agree with the reviewer's comments that there are significant differences in village development, and the rational use of rural residential land requires specific environmental and social condition investigations. We will conduct detailed research on selecting villages in different cities based on the macro classification in this article, and propose more valuable planning strategies for village improvement, relocation, or construction.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for your answers. The quality of the manuscript has been improved.
I suppose that some maps are still a bit overcrowded or have poorer resolution visually (e.g. Figure 6), which needs to be improved.

The paper reads relatively well. 

Author Response

Thank you for the reviewer's comments, we revised the figure 2 and figure 6 and made them clearer.