The Greenery of Early Modernist Housing Estates: The 1919–1927 Wałbrzych Agglomeration

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper addresses an under determined area of scholarship in modernism, both in terms of the geographical area Lower Silesia) discussed and the granularity of the topic. A detailed discussion of the "greenery" in modernist green space is long overdue. Of particular interest is the care taken by architects to preserve significant specimens and re-route circulation in favor of the existing planting. However, there are significant language issues through out the text including spelling and grammar problems. For instance, wherever "designing" is used, use "design," the noun form, not the verb. There are spelling issues throughout. Once the grammar issues are addressed, content will be more legible for the reader. Methodologically and structurally, the paper is sound. The images are excellent - please review all captions for clarity. Additionally, refer to the journal standards guidelines for any inconsistencies with references, citations, and so forth. Please address grammar issues with the title: Greenery of early modernist housing estates on the example of the Waldenburg (Wałbrzych) agglomeration (1919-1927). This should be: The Greenery of Early Modernist Housing Estates: the 1919-1927 Wałbrzych Agglomeration - capitalization should follow specific journal guidelines, "on the example of" does not make sense in English.  

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This article is enjoyable to read and engaging. I think there is much to learn from the design of green spaces in the early modernism period, and this work articulates some of that very well. The author has a good writing style and draws on multiple sources of literature and historical documents to develop a narrative on "the specific significance of designing of green spaces, including urban layouts, and the issue of protecting unique trees and green spaces in the concepts of estates from the early modernism period after the First World War, in the years 1919-1927".

However, the aim could be clearer, the method would benefit from further detail and the presentation of images and discussion on the main insights could be improved. If evidence towards the success of the designs, from the social perspectives, is available, I think that would strengthen the recommendations. In addition, a short summary, or sentence at the end of each section on what the reader should take away from the information would be beneficial.

I attach a pdf withcomments and suggest the main areas to improve are:

Introduction: This is very interesting detail and well described but is lacking any references of the insight source, could these be added? Could the aim be articulated more clearly within this section, highlighting a gap in previous work and the need for this article?

Method: The detail here is very brief, it would be great to hear more about how literature was selected and analysed, especially. I include further comments on the pdf.

Results: This section includes a large amount of information and I wonder if it could be synthesised at all, to assist the reader take away the important bits? One way to do this could be to present each image in turn and describe the design features discussed. I could not see many of the images on my pdf version so I missed a lot of content here and need to view these in the next version to fully understand the detail described.

Discussion: It would be great to emphasise the contribution made here and discussed against previous work, and in relation to the success of the designs. I am not sure the discussion does this fully, yet. 

Conclusion: This section would benefit from drawing on evidence of what has worked well in designs, to guide future designs learning from this.

I hope these suggestions are helpful to further develop the article and wish you well in the next stages.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript looks more like a research report than and article. I would suggest to improve the introductory paragraphs and conclusions in order to better clarify its contribution to scholarship. 

Author Response

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Reviewer 4 Report

I would like to congratulate you for your work, the way in which you detailed and argued all the elements mentioned with the related evidence for different types of urban and village settlements. I would have liked to see in the article how they have evolved over time, of course if they would contribute to the purpose of the article.

Author Response

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Reviewer 5 Report

The article illustrates the specific significance of the designing of green spaces in the modernist house estates, including urban layouts, Greene rings and trees and green spaces protection. The abstract is not clear, as it is more a general discussion of the topic than a specific argumentation on aims, novelty and outcomes of the research. In the introduction the is not clear the state of the art on this topic in the literature. Also the gap is not expressed, thou it is not possibile to understand the specific innovation of your research. The structure of the paper is not presented and discussed. Results is not the appropriate title of the section. Analysis or background can be used. This background background refers to a specific geographical context, as modernism was largely considered in Europe (Modernismo in Spain, Movimento Moderno in Italy, Art Nouveau in France, ...). For example,  the research https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings10090159 can be inserted as Italian example. It refers to the greenery approach on a social housing district of the early modernist housing settlements. Also in the renovation project, greenery is a strategic action to guarantee sustainability, human comfort, quality of life, regeneration. Figure 2, 3 4, 6, 7, ... are not inserted. Please, revise all the figures in the text. Section 3.4 is difficult to read. Perhaps a table or a scheme with the most used approaches is helpful to understand the greenery in these housings.  In the conclusion show better using bullet points the most important outcomes of the research and its novelty compared to other research on the same topic.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

The work has been improved comparing with the first version, although it is still too centered on the case rather than to give a significant contribution to the overall debate.

However, I would not give other suggestions and I think needs a check about English language and style.

Author Response

Thank You very much for Your review.

The text was corrected in terms of language and editorial issues. In particular, the grammatical errors and shortcomings were adjusted on p. 1, l. 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 31 (last), p. 2, l. 6, 15, 22, 25, 26, 27, 41, p.3, l. 4, 5, 23, 31, p. l. 11, 12, p. l. 4, p. 6, l. 2, 25, p. 7. l.4, p. 9, l. 8, 11, p. 11, l. 3, 20, p. 13, l. 4, p. 14, l. 24, 41, p. 15, l.1, p. 16, l.2, 4, 7, p. 18, l. 6, p. 19, l.12, 42, 43, p. 20, l.1, 6, 22, p. 22, l. 1. Also British to American spelling was changed (marked with comments on the text).

I hope that the improvements made will ensure that, in its present form, the article will meet publishing requirements.

Reviewer 5 Report

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Author Response

Thank You very much for Your review.

The text was corrected in terms of language and editorial issues. In particular, the grammatical errors and shortcomings were adjusted on p. 1, l. 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 31 (last), p. 2, l. 6, 15, 22, 25, 26, 27, 41, p.3, l. 4, 5, 23, 31, p. l. 11, 12, p. l. 4, p. 6, l. 2, 25, p. 7. l.4, p. 9, l. 8, 11, p. 11, l. 3, 20, p. 13, l. 4, p. 14, l. 24, 41, p. 15, l.1, p. 16, l.2, 4, 7, p. 18, l. 6, p. 19, l.12, 42, 43, p. 20, l.1, 6, 22, p. 22, l. 1. Also British to American spelling was changed (marked with comments on the text).

I hope that the improvements made will ensure that, in its present form, the article will meet publishing requirements.