Research on Adaptive Reuse Strategy of Industrial Heritage Based on the Method of Social Network

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

It is very rare that I read a paper and have little if anything to critique. Yet, this was the case here. I have no comments, and the paper should be published.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Sincere thanks should be given to you for the constructive comments and suggestions. The response to your comment is given below:

Response to comment: It is very rare that I read a paper and have little if anything to critique. Yet, this was the case here. I have no comments, and the paper should be published.
Response: Special thanks to you for your good comments, it gives us great encouragement and we will continue to work hard in our field of research!

Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.

Sincerely,

The Authors.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The study explores the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage buildings using social network analysis. The paper introduces novel methods for adapting industrial heritage buildings, focusing on spatial challenges and optimization strategies. It presents a case study of the Sanlinqiao Thermal Bottle Factory to validate these methods. The results seem to be presented clearly, with the use of social network analysis to assess spatial challenges and propose solutions. The analysis appears appropriate, linking the methodology to the findings effectively.

Even though the paper contains valuable insights and good arguments, several areas for improvement are necessary:

- The methodology, particularly the application of social network analysis in this context, needs to be explained more thoroughly for clarity.

- The reliance on a single case study may limit the generalizability of the findings. Including additional comparative analysis from similar worldwide cases will strengthen the researcher's arguments.

- The implications for practice, policy, and society could be more explicitly connected to the findings and discussed more comprehensively.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Sincere thanks should be given to you for the constructive comments and suggestions. The responses to the comments are given below:

1. Response to comment: The methodology, particularly the application of social network analysis in this context, needs to be explained more thoroughly for clarity.

Response: Thank you for your nice comments on our article. In this revision we have added an explanation of the meaning of the corresponding parameters of the social network analysis method used in the article as well as the corresponding formulas to facilitate a clearer description of the methodology of the article (Line 261-282, 305-331, 347-356).

2. Response to comment: The reliance on a single case study may limit the generalizability of the findings. Including additional comparative analysis from similar worldwide cases will strengthen the researcher's arguments.

Response: We are sorry that we cannot find any other examples of industrial heritage renovation projects using social network analysis, but there are similar examples of social network analysis applied to other types of spatial design (village renovation, transport system design, public space planning), which we list in more detail in 2.2 in this revision to support the feasibility of social network analysis in spatial design types of projects. feasibility of the social network analysis method in spatial design type projects (Line 119-150).

3. Response to comment: The implications for practice, policy, and society could be more explicitly connected to the findings and discussed more comprehensively.

Response: Thanks to your suggestions, we have revised the conclusion to include a discussion of the social and economic impacts of industrial heritage conversion and the implications of this study for practice, policy and society (Line 537-544, 580-593).

Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.

Sincerely,

The Authors.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

（1）This paper uses social network analysis to measure the spatial transformation of industrial heritage, constructs a spatial network model, and obtains objective spatial characteristics. Based on the measurement results, the article proposes three challenges that industrial heritage transformation must solve: functional layout, spatial accessibility, and path richness. And provide renovation strategies: functional matching, creation of gray space, enhancing the connection between edge space and the overall factory, creation of outdoor space, and stimulation of public space vitality.

2.This paper  uses social network analysis methods to measure the spatial characteristics of industrial heritage buildings and constructs a spatial network model, improving the subjective judgment methods in the past. It has certain significance for the objective evaluation and judgment of spatial characteristics. This article analyzes the cohesion, centrality, and correlation of spatial network models to identify the differences before and after the renovation at the spatial level.

3.The paper did not provide necessary explanations for the method used, such as the rationality of using this method in the field of industrial heritage transformation and utilization. When calculating the results of the instance, the necessary process was not presented, only the results and conclusions were provided, lacking an explanation of the underlying significance of the data. In addition, the research perspective is limited to the internal architectural factors of the park, without considering the impact of external factors on the form of reused space. Relying solely on the analysis results of the factory itself as guidance for reuse lacks a certain degree of rigor.

4.The paper initially identified three challenges for industrial heritage renovation: functional zoning, spatial accessibility, and the abundance of pathways. And it is expected that through the application of quantitative methods, the rationality of strategy formulation will be strengthened, and the five strategies listed in the article will be obtained. However, the paper spends too much on the interrelationships between thoese elements, there is no detailed explanation of the initial functional layout challenge. Only briefly described can be found in section 4.3.1.

5. The necessary computational processes and steps for the selected social network analysis method should be listed in the article, and more detailed explanations should be provided for the processing of key data. For example, in section 4.2, the analysis of cohesion requires a more detailed explanation of the data.

6.The referencces in this paper is appropriate.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Sincere thanks should be given to you for the constructive comments and suggestions. The responses to the comments are given below:

1. Response to comment: The paper did not provide necessary explanations for the method used, such as the rationality of using this method in the field of industrial heritage transformation and utilization. When calculating the results of the instance, the necessary process was not presented, only the results and conclusions were provided, lacking an explanation of the underlying significance of the data.

Response: We have carefully studied the comments and suggestions given by you, and regarding your point that this paper does not provide the necessary explanation of the methodology used, our team believes that we really have not explained the rationality of the use of the social network analysis method in the field of the transformation and utilisation of industrial heritage, and in this revision, we have added some examples of the application of the social network analysis method in some other areas of spatial planning and design: village renovation, transport system design and public space planning. Based on the above studies of applying social network analysis to spatial design, this paper tries to apply social network analysis to the renovation of industrial heritage buildings (Line 119-150).

2. Response to comment: In addition, the research perspective is limited to the internal architectural factors of the park, without considering the impact of external factors on the form of reused space. Relying solely on the analysis results of the factory itself as guidance for reuse lacks a certain degree of rigor.

Response: Regarding the point that the research perspective is limited to the internal architectural factors of the park and does not consider the influence of external factors on the morphology of the reused space, after discussion, we believe that we have indeed neglected this point in our research, and only constructed the spatial network structure model inside the park, with insufficient consideration of the influence of the factors outside the site, but if we want to solve this problem completely we have to reconstruct the spatial network model of the whole experiment, and all the data will be changed. All the data will be changed accordingly, and the original intention of this study is to regard the whole internal space of the plant as a whole, focusing on the study of the interaction between the various spaces within the plant, and optimise its spatial layout, so there is no substantial modification for the inclusion of external elements in this revision, but we have added some elaboration on the influence of external factors on the building entrances and functional layout in the revision of subsection (1) in 4.3.1. However, we have included in subsection (1) of 4.3.1 some elements that reflect the impact of external factors on building entrances and functional layouts. We appreciate and thank you for your comments and will take them into consideration in our subsequent studies, and hope that the experts will understand and appreciate them (Line 400-407).

3. Response to comment: The paper initially identified three challenges for industrial heritage renovation: functional zoning, spatial accessibility, and the abundance of pathways. And it is expected that through the application of quantitative methods, the rationality of strategy formulation will be strengthened, and the five strategies listed in the article will be obtained. However, the paper spends too much on the interrelationships between thoese elements, there is no detailed explanation of the initial functional layout challenge. Only briefly described can be found in section 4.3.1.

Response: Thank you for your suggestion, we really didn't explain the optimisation of the functional layout in detail, in this revision we have added a description of the optimisation of the functional layout in 4.3.1., which more clearly describes how our research and analysis impacted the final functional layout of the building (Line 391-407).

4. Response to comment: The necessary computational processes and steps for the selected social network analysis method should be listed in the article, and more detailed explanations should be provided for the processing of key data. For example, in section 4.2, the analysis of cohesion requires a more detailed explanation of the data.

Response: Thanks for your kind suggestions,which is valuable for improving the accuracy of the manuscript. In subsection 4.2 we added a description of the meaning of the corresponding parameters in the social network analysis method: cohesion, centrality, and relatedness and the process of calculating them as well as the formulae in order to explain more clearly the application of the social network analysis method in our experiments (Line 119-150).

Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.

Sincerely,

The Authors.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

This study addressed three spatial challenges: functional layout, spatial accessibility, and pathway richness, encountered during the conversion of industrial heritage buildings into public buildings and suggested spatial optimization strategies to overcome these challenges. This strategies are applied to The Sanlinqiao Thermal Bottle Factory and demonstrated that the spatial utilization rate has been significantly improved by using of spatial network models. The context of study was well organized and the analysis results with investigating strategies for the revitalization of industrial heritage were well presented also. 

Some errors of annotation and numbers at Figure 4 should be revised. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Sincere thanks should be given to you for the constructive comments and suggestions. The response to your comment is given below:

1. Response to comment: Some errors of annotation and numbers at Figure 4 should be revised.

Response: Thanks for your help. We feel really sorry for our carelessness. In this revision we rechecked the references and corrected the references that did not correspond and did not make sense. And we also corrected the numerical errors in Figure 4 (Line 254-255).

Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.

Sincerely,

The Authors.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx