Green Infrastructure Fluctuations in Urban Agglomeration of Shanxi Province, China: Implications for Controlling Ecological Crises

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper is good even if it's a little bit difficult to be understood if the reader is not Chinese. I mean it's clear, but maybe you could explain better to not-Chinese readers what were the policies about landscape in the years and 'how' these managed to save and preserve (or even increasing!) the UGI (as this not happened in any other part of the world even with strong policies on Urban Green and Territorial Green preservation. Last I really liked the conclusions, even if maybe could be interesting, if possible, to add a paragraph about the new reforestation policy introduced in China recently. Last the title create some expectations to read about 'implications for controlling ecological crises', but actually yours is a reading of the state of art in the year, and there are not "implications", so I suggest you to revise the title.

Author Response

We are honored to receive your approval. Thank you for your suggestion, which we fully accept. Based on your professional suggestions, we have made some changes.

Please see the attachment. It is the response letter. We hope that you are satisfied with the improvements we have made.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The work is interesting and analyzes how green infrastructure fluctuates based on the morphological spatial pattern of the Taiyuan-Jinzhong agglomeration in the period from 1985 to 2020; in addition to identifying the landscape scale characteristics of urban green infrastructure. Since it is a case study, it seems to me that the study area should be indicated in the title to read as: "...in Taiyuan-Jinzhong urban agglomeration.." On the other hand, the way in which the The study seems adequate to me, including how the maps and the fluctuation analysis of the UGI are developed in the short time. Just point out in the document small changes/suggestions that are mentioned in the PDF file; as well as, eliminate some ideas that are not conclusions in that section. I reiterate, the work seems solid, important and only with small suggestions to the co-authors.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

no additional comments

Author Response

Thanks. These comments are all valuable and very helpful for improving our paper. We have studied comments carefully and have made corrections according to them. The detailed responses to your comments are shown on the attachment. We hope the revised version meets with approval.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper addresses an issue with no small contemporary relevance. Urban Green Infrastructure is now at the center of a very heated and interesting debate, not least because it is able to shape the appearance of new urbanizations and their success in an ecosystem context. Human migration within urban environments inevitably causes an alteration in the ecological dynamics of the whole area, so it is vital to study how to minimize the effects of this unavoidable civic expansion, especially from an environmental and climatic point of view.

The author(s) approach the issue with scientific rigor and order, making clear hypothesis, objectives and methodology, which in turn lead to an in-depth analysis of UGI in the Taiyuan-Jinzhong agglomeration. Of these aspects, the environmental effectiveness is verified, going so far as to suggest with some precision what aspects of green infrastructure should now be most preserved, enhanced, or reduced with the aim of boosting local ecological variety and reducing the negative climate effects of urbanization. Three strategies or best practices are thus summarized that could help achieve these results: 1) maintain the role of surrounding wild nature, 2) provide for the use of linear parks along rivers or along urban areas, and 3) incorporate point green areas within the established urban fabric.

These strategies are probably not frequently used in the Taiyuan-Jinzhong agglomeration, and it is therefore of primary importance to bring these alternatives to the planning currently used. It should be noted, however, that all three of these strategies have been used for decades in the planning and enhancement of green space in almost all major European cities.

In addition, it should be pointed out that, again taking European cities as an example, it is increasingly common to consider spontaneous nature as a natural element that joins those provided by traditional urban planning. This aspect is useful in contextualizing nature as something that can only be controlled by humans to a certain extent, even within cities. Trying to control any aspect of urban ecology has often proven to be a solution capable of improving the current situation, without, however, necessarily being the optimal strategy for nature itself (as incidentally also noted by the author(s) themselves in the case of GTGP). One must therefore be aware of the need to allow nature to develop independently and freely within certain urban limits.

Certainly analyzing the spontaneous nature also premises a greater degree of difficulty, but I think it may be a cue for more in-depth study of the paper. Or perhaps of another study that grows out of this one.

In any case, the paper's innovation lies not in identifying strategies (which, as expounded, have already been widely used elsewhere), but in promoting these strategies in a context that clearly has not yet embraced them. For this reason I consider it sufficiently innovative.

That said, the paper is well written, clear and coherent. It provides a much-needed starting point for promoting the topic of UGI and its development in an increasingly widespread urban future.

The English language is good overall.

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Your review comments fully demonstrate your high level of expertise. Thanks for your suggestion, which we fully accept.

Landscape Ecology acts as the link between human and natural components. We believe that integrating landscape ecology in urban green infrastructure (UGI) planning is an effective way for urban agglomeration to achieve sustainable goals. As you well know, it’s very common in developed countries to promote urban development by planning and building UGI. In response to the growing global recognition of the need to achieve sustainable development, significant efforts from Chinese cities are underway to actively integrate nature into the urban environment by implementing UGI.

As a developing country, China is facing a more rapid urbanization process than ever before. Many medium-sized Chinese cities are undergoing great changes, including the concentration of urban space and population. People pay more and more attention to the optimization of living environment in cities. However, we have to admit that UGI in these cities is not as perfect as UGI in Europe. Some strategies or practices, such as maintain the wild nature and provide linear parks, are ordinary. But in the process of rapid urban agglomeration, they cannot match the changes in time and space. Our research has identified these mismatched spaces and proposed specific measures. For example, we found that the bridge and branch in Yuci District has decreased a lot in the past decade. Therefore, this new urban area formed during the agglomeration process of two cities, requires the timely integration of ecological corridors into urban planning (lines 388-396).

In addition, our understanding of UGI is the same as your attitude. Attempting to regulate any facet of urban ecology, while often proving to be an effective means of enhancing the present state, may not necessarily represent the optimal approach. In the future, one of the challenges that Chinese cities need to address is how to promote ecological balance through more natural means, rather than relying on artificial afforestation or the construction of UGI. We're excited to dive into some fresh research.

Last, please find the detailed corrections in track changes in the re-submitted files.  We hope these changes can improve the accuracy of the manuscript.