The Efficiency of Urban–Rural Integration in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and Its Optimization

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article is of a good scientific standard.  However, I suggest

- clearly define the purpose of the study and the research questions,
- expand the scope of the literature review to include other regions of the world, e.g. Europe; studies of so-called functional (integrated) areas are conducted for EU countries - Poland, the Czech Republic, Portugal and others. It is worth showing whether the approach is similar to that in China or different.
- indicate whether the degree of functional integration between urban and rural areas has or can have an impact on the outcome of the study,
- explain why there are so few indicators in the space integration section. whether this could affect the final outcome of the study.

Author Response

请参阅附件。

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Please see the comments and suggestions in the attached file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript is well structured, with rational methods and results. I recommend to accept it after certain improvements. My recommendations are given below.

1 The naming methods of the three urban agglomerations are suggested to be unified, such as MRYRUA, CYUA, YRDUA. The following paper could be referenced：

Cai, B., Shao, Z., Fang, S., Huang, X., Tang, Y., Zheng, M., Zhang, H., 2022. The Evolution of urban agglomerations in China and how it deviates from Zipf’s law. Geo-Spatial Inf. Sci. 00, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10095020.2022.2083527

2 The names of cities in Fig.1. should not be separated. Such as ‘Chongqing’, ‘Wuhan’.

3 The discussion section is completely demonstrated. It is suggested to be optimized. Although the relevance of various policies is addressed, there is a lack of difference analysis among urban agglomerations. Moreover, the macro-policy analysis is applicable to other urban agglomerations in China, and it is advised to expand the examination of the uniqueness of the Yangtze River Economic Belt as well as three urban agglomerations.

4 In general, the paper is well-organized and the following papers could be referenced.

Cai, B., Shao, Z., Fang, S., Huang, X., Huq, M.E., Tang, Y., Li, Y., Zhuang, Q., 2021. Finer-scale spatiotemporal coupling coordination model between socioeconomic activity and eco-environment: A case study of Beijing, China. Ecol. Indic. 131, 108165.

Liu, Y., Long, H., Chen, Y., Wang, J., Li, Yurui, Li, Yuheng, Yang, Y., Zhou, Y., 2016. Progress of research on urban-rural transformation and rural development in China in the past decade and future prospects. J. Geogr. Sci. 26, 1117–1132.

Liu, Y., Zhou, Y., Li, Y., 2019. Rural regional system and rural revitalization strategy in China. Dili Xuebao/Acta Geogr. Sin. 74, 2511–2528.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx