Refugee and Migrant Integration in Urban Spatial Structures and City Development: Case Study of Busan, South Korea

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Review Report for sustainability-2684710

 Refugee and Migrant Integration in Urban Spatial Structure and City Development: Case of Busan, South Korea

Journal name: Sustainability

Summary

The article investigates the effects of displaced people and migrants on the spatial structure and local urban development policies in its case study. It shows how refugees and migrants have changed the city's image, and its socioeconomic and spatial characteristics over time. Using GIS to map out the influence of migrant populations on the city demographics, physical development, and housing initiatives, the study provides a deep understanding of how migrant urbanism can exist. therefore, this can be an invaluable work for the literature, 

 Introduction

- It is highly recommended the authors break this section and add a theoretical background section in which migrant urbanism and humanitarian urban planning and policy formulation literature and perspectives are discussed. Moreover, drawing a conceptual model is recommended.

Material and  Method

- The quality of maps is really low so one cannot follow them. Representing the maps in ArcMap with higher resolution so as to make them more useful and readable is necessary. 

- It seems that this section does not cover all the methods since some methods claimed in the Abstract are not extended here.

Discussion

- This section lacks a compelling argument for the well-organized previous sections that show how migrants and refugees struggled with new life and how the city was struggling with newcomers and their strange culture and social habits. Instead, this section is focused on some statements that belong to the introduction at the beginning. Moreover, economic globalization and its impacts on the labor market and how this informal market (consisting of refugees and migrants working in informal jobs) was merged into the new emerging globalized market of South Korea is a bing absent contribution of the work. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of the English language required

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to submit a revised draft of our manuscript ‘Refugee and Migrant Integration in Urban Spatial Structure and City Development: Case of Busan, South Korea’. We appreciate your insights and feedback on our research article. The comments given in the first review have helped us to make suitable revisions to our study. We hope the following responses will cater to the inquiries and suggestions received from the review. Please refer to the attached document for the detailed responses to the comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear editors and authors,

I am pleased to have been a reviewer for the paper. The authors have proven that based on the analysis of documents, maps, plans and terrain, good work can be done without large statistics. The authors have done an excellent analysis of the city's problems in the fight against a large influx of refugees.

It would be good if the authors provide an analysis of the geographical location of Busan and why it was so attractive to refugees throughout history? Are there geographical factors or is there some other reason for such an influx of refugees to this city? Maybe the authors should add at least two or three sentences about it in the conclusion.

I am not sure if it is necessary to insert images of the maps (table 1), since nothing can be seen on them.

Best regards

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to submit a revised draft of our manuscript ‘Refugee and Migrant Integration in Urban Spatial Structure and City Development: Case of Busan, South Korea’. We appreciate your insights and feedback on our research article. The comments given in the first review have helped us to make suitable revisions to our study. We hope the following responses will cater to the inquiries and suggestions received from the review. Please refer to the attached file for the detailed responses to the comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Great overall study. However, few topics could be stretched further to enhance the output quality. For example: 

- While the text touches on residential development, it does not delve into the social and community aspects of integration. Researchers could investigate how these housing policies influenced the social integration of refugee and migrant populations within the city.

- The text primarily presents a top-down view of housing policies. Research could incorporate the perspectives and experiences of the refugee and migrant populations affected by these policies.

- The text mentions housing repair and improvement projects, but it doesn't provide details on the quality and standards of housing provided to refugees and migrants. Research could assess the adequacy of housing in terms of safety, hygiene, and overall quality.

- The study mentions severe congestion and environmental issues resulting from informal and illegal housing. Research could touch bases on the environmental impact of these housing policies and the subsequent development, including any efforts to mitigate environmental degradation.

I believe elaborating on these subjects will enhance the study quality.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to submit a revised draft of our manuscript ‘Refugee and Migrant Integration in Urban Spatial Structure and City Development: Case of Busan, South Korea’. We appreciate your insights and feedback on our research article. The comments given in the first review have helped us to make suitable revisions to our study. We hope the following responses will cater to the inquiries and suggestions received from the review. Please refer to the attached document for the detailed responses of the comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for the opportunity to read your paper.  I have minor comments as this is not a study per se, rather a historical and descriptive account.  I don't know if it belongs in this journal but that is up to the journal to decide. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

No comments on English.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for reviewing our manuscript ‘Refugee and Migrant Integration in Urban Spatial Structure and City Development: Case of Busan, South Korea’. We appreciate your feedback but respectfully disagree as the historical reference used in this article can be a valuable addition to the ongoing discussions on migrant integration. We hope our revised manuscript will cater to the inquiries and suggestions received from other reviewers. We would be thankful if you can take a look at the revised manuscript and suggest any changes if required.

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Great overall additions and improvements. I thank the authors for their patience and willingness to improve the study.

Author Response

Thank you for suggesting us suitable revisions for improving our manuscript. We also appreciate your efforts for reviewing our article and giving us an opportunity to submit our revised manuscript.

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The main issue for me still stands but I will go with the Journal on their decision

Comments on the Quality of English Language

No comment

Author Response

We appreciate your insights and feedback on our research article. 

Round 3

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for the revisions once again.  I will go with the majority decision of the reviewers and the journal.  I have no objections.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

English has been improved so it is fine