Exploring the Sustainability of Urban Leisure Agriculture in Shanghai

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Manuscript Title: Exploring the Sustainability of Urban Leisure Agriculture in Shanghai

General comments:

The manuscript "Exploring the Sustainability of Urban Leisure Agriculture in Shanghai" has been reviewed. The study addressed an exciting and significant topic by investigating urban leisure agriculture based on sustainability guide criteria. The paper is well written, and the method designed is sound and well described. A thorough discussion convincingly supports their results, with a strong implication for policy to support future urban leisure agriculture development efforts. Overall, it is a significant study and of great interest to the readers of sustainability, and I recommend it be published once the authors revise the following few minor corrections.

Specific comments:

1. The abstract presented in this manuscript needs some modification. What are key findings based on which the authors concluded that urban leisure agriculture in the city has high sustainability from the economic perspective over the remaining two other indicators? I suggest the authors add their study's findings, sufficiently supported by statistical figures, before giving their conclusion and recommendation.
2. The introduction section is well written, but it can still be improved by including additional related literature on the topic. Here are some papers of your interest: Artmann and Sartison, 2018; doi:10.3390/su10061937; Othman et al., 2018; doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/117/1/012007; Skar et al., 2019; doi: 10.2166/bgs.2019.931).
3. In the text, citations and lists of references should need to be reformatted following the Sustainability
4. The description of the study area is better if it is reinforced by the map (including grides and graticules) designed in QGIS or ArcGIS, portraying the beautiful Chinese city of Shanghai.
5. In section 2: "Materials and methods", please add at least a reference after the sentence "Sustainability is an essential factor for ensuring agricultural development."
6. After 2.3, please add full stop and a blank space. This paper has other places like this (e.g., "3 Results"). Please find them and correct them accordingly throughout the manuscript.
7. As agriculture, in general, is closely related to energy, given that electricity, fertilizers, water, chemicals, and human labour are the means of energy consumption, are there any efforts made by urban leisure agriculture to achieve exceptionally efficient means of reducing excessive water utilization, which may contribute to energy conservation?
8. Finally, on pages 10-11: Table 1, "Classification of leisure agriculture." appeared two times in the paper; please remove the second one; Page 12-14: Table 2, Page 15-16: Table 3, and Table 4 on page 17 are not cited in the paper.

Comments for author File: Comments.docx

Author Response

Dear Editor and Reviewers,

 

We are grateful to Reviewers for reviewing the paper so carefully. We have tried our best to improve the manuscript. Our revision of this manuscript is as follows:

 

1. We have modified the format of all citations and references.

 

2. We have revised the abstract section to provide more detail on the key findings of this study.

 

3. Some references to the role of urban agriculture sustainability have been added to the introduction section.

 

4. A graphic representation of the study area has been added to the paper.

 

5. The method of generating the weights of the indicators used in the article is added.

 

Responds to the reviewers ‘comments:

Reviewer #1:

 

As agriculture, in general, is closely related to energy, given that electricity, fertilizers, water, chemicals, and human labor are the means of energy consumption, are there any efforts made by urban leisure agriculture to achieve exceptionally efficient means of reducing excessive water utilization, which may contribute to energy conservation?

 

In urban agriculture, there are various means to enhance farm sustainability by reducing water use, such as the use of drip irrigation technology or soilless cultivation techniques. At the same time, due to the objective air and industrial pollution problems in the city, many farm operators have expressed doubts about the possible contamination received by irrigation water. In terms of energy conservation, in addition to trying to use renewable energy, urban agriculture operators are also trying other ways to reduce energy use. In the case of the Urban Rooftop Farm, for example, the operator has succeeded in saving energy consumption by using the heating system of a commercial office building to provide heat for the grown produce in winter.

 

Reviewer #2:

 

What is the difference between a natural environment and a natural landscape?

 

In contrast to the natural environment, the natural landscape contains elements of time, weather, culture and history, and can even reflect a unique aesthetic and cultural identity.

 

 

 

Please provide a short explanation for the number of valid questionnaires and their ability to provide confidential results.

 

It was difficult to test the reliability and consistency of the questionnaire because the scales were not used in the questionnaire. However, during the design of the questionnaire, we had several rounds of discussions with experts in the field about the design of the questionnaire, so the reliability of the questionnaire can be guaranteed to some extent.

 

Is there any real implication on what you have suggested here to discuss their usefulness to support sustainability of urban leisure farms?

 

By measuring the sustainability of urban leisure agriculture in Shanghai, this paper shows the current status of sustainability more visually and points out the shortcomings in sustainability. Based on this information, we can pinpoint policy recommendations that can improve the sustainable development of urban leisure agriculture in Shanghai.

 

Best regards,

Sincerely yours,

Authors

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

Please find the attached pdf file for my suggestions. 

Best regards

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Editor and Reviewers,

 

We are grateful to Reviewers for reviewing the paper so carefully. We have tried our best to improve the manuscript. Our revision of this manuscript is as follows:

 

1. We have modified the format of all citations and references.

 

2. We have revised the abstract section to provide more detail on the key findings of this study.

 

3. Some references to the role of urban agriculture sustainability have been added to the introduction section.

 

4. A graphic representation of the study area has been added to the paper.

 

5. The method of generating the weights of the indicators used in the article is added.

 

Responds to the reviewers ‘comments:

Reviewer #1:

 

As agriculture, in general, is closely related to energy, given that electricity, fertilizers, water, chemicals, and human labor are the means of energy consumption, are there any efforts made by urban leisure agriculture to achieve exceptionally efficient means of reducing excessive water utilization, which may contribute to energy conservation?

 

In urban agriculture, there are various means to enhance farm sustainability by reducing water use, such as the use of drip irrigation technology or soilless cultivation techniques. At the same time, due to the objective air and industrial pollution problems in the city, many farm operators have expressed doubts about the possible contamination received by irrigation water. In terms of energy conservation, in addition to trying to use renewable energy, urban agriculture operators are also trying other ways to reduce energy use. In the case of the Urban Rooftop Farm, for example, the operator has succeeded in saving energy consumption by using the heating system of a commercial office building to provide heat for the grown produce in winter.

 

Reviewer #2:

 

What is the difference between a natural environment and a natural landscape?

 

In contrast to the natural environment, the natural landscape contains elements of time, weather, culture and history, and can even reflect a unique aesthetic and cultural identity.

 

 

 

Please provide a short explanation for the number of valid questionnaires and their ability to provide confidential results.

 

It was difficult to test the reliability and consistency of the questionnaire because the scales were not used in the questionnaire. However, during the design of the questionnaire, we had several rounds of discussions with experts in the field about the design of the questionnaire, so the reliability of the questionnaire can be guaranteed to some extent.

 

Is there any real implication on what you have suggested here to discuss their usefulness to support sustainability of urban leisure farms?

 

By measuring the sustainability of urban leisure agriculture in Shanghai, this paper shows the current status of sustainability more visually and points out the shortcomings in sustainability. Based on this information, we can pinpoint policy recommendations that can improve the sustainable development of urban leisure agriculture in Shanghai.

 

Best regards,

Sincerely yours,

Authors

Author Response File: Author Response.docx