Enhancing Livability: A Systematic Review of Sustainable Neighborhood Facilities and Their Perspectives in China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe article mainly says that in the context of sustainable development and accelerated urban development, the sustainability of community facilities is becoming more and more important, but there are many problems in community facilities in China. The study used a systematic literature review methodology, searched Scopus and WoS databases, analyzed 48 articles, five NSA tools, and relevant regulations in China, and identified seven key factors influencing sustainable community facilities in China, including authoritative values, service delivery, etc.Here are some of my questions：
1.The paper mentions a number of factors that affect sustainable community facilities, such as authoritative values, service provision, etc. Among these factors, can the interaction mechanism between each factor be further analyzed?
2.The article mentions that the research is limited to post-2000 literature and is largely based on the Chinese context. However, are there other potential limitations？
3.The article points out that there are many challenges in the sustainability of community facilities in China, and whether it can propose targeted solutions？
4.The study identified the key factors influencing sustainable community facilities in China, so how can concrete and actionable strategies be developed to improve the sustainability of community facilities based on these factors in practical application?
5.In the literature search process, only Scopus and WoS databases are used, and whether other documents need to be cited to increase credibility.
6.In order to increase the reliability of data sources, you can also select some article references from other databases, you can refer to：
[a] IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, DOI: 10.1109/TII.2024.3390595
[b] IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 8786-8797, June 2024, doi: 10.1109/TII.2024.3367038
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe introduction does not clearly differentiate how this study builds upon or extends previous research. The paper claims to be the first review article focused on influencing factors or implementation frameworks for sustainable neighborhood facilities in China, but it does not sufficiently compare its findings with existing review studies.
Provide a more structured and reproducible explanation of the SLR process.
The classification of influencing factors (Providers, Recipients, Coordinating Mediators) is conceptually interesting, but it lacks strong empirical justification. The discussion on why these specific factors were selected over others is not sufficiently backed by previous studies or comparative analysis.
The review only includes studies published from 2000 to 2023, but the justification for this time frame is unclear. Additionally, the selection of studies seems to focus disproportionately on developed countries, which may not fully represent China’s unique urban development context.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear authors,
You have done a very engaging review of relevant studies on sustainable neighborhoods, providing applicable research findings for China as well as other developing countries.
However, I believe that several areas of your study require additional enhancement and clarifications. My suggestions and comments are as follows:
Comment No. 1:
Title
The title of your paper is intriguing, but it seems that it is not fully in line with the subject and content of your study. In your paper, you deal with reviewing the literature on sustainable neighborhoods and neighborhood facilities not only in China but in broader international context. I suggest reformulating the title so that it clearly indicates the content of the presented research.
Comment No. 2:
Language precision and writing style:
I believe that your study would benefit greatly from professional English proofreading, as well as prior stylistic improvements, especially in terms of more precise language and phrasing.
- Some sentences are too long and unclearly defined (e.g. lines 12-16; 60-70; 177-182; 234-237; 355-356). I suggest reorganizing lines 60-17 into bullets for better readability;
- Some wordings are quite imprecise, such as: line 22 – “global application of sustainable cities and neighborhoods”; line 81 – “…and try to integrate them into a relationship framework.”; lines 118-119 – “…documenting the frequency with which sustainable neighborhood facilities enhance livability.”
- I suggest avoiding repetitive wording, such as “this study” in the Conclusion section;
- Technical errors – mixing capital and small letters throughout the text, unfinished sentences (e.g. lines 63-64), etc.
Comment No. 3:
Introduction:
This section needs to be supplemented with more comprehensive elaboration of the neighborhood sustainability concept, including the term “neighborhood facilities”. SDG 11 is directly related to sustainable communities and could be specifically addressed. Besides, in your study, you do not refer to the concept of sustainable housing, which is a core element of sustainable neighborhoods/communities.
It is desirable to introduce briefly some of the relevant NSA tools in this section.
Comment No. 4:
Methodology:
Articles of Type 1 and Type 2 should be explained more clearly within the text (lines 118-119), in line with the explanation provided in Figure 1.
Comment No. 5:
Results:
In the first paragraph, it is necessary to emphasize that the results of your study are based on a limited set of analyzed papers (WoS and Scopus scientific databases).
It would be correct to cite the analyzed literature (48 papers) both within the text as well in the References.
All illustrations captions should be supplemented with precise descriptions of their content.
Comment No. 6:
Factors contributing to the sustainable implementation of neighborhood facilities:
Consider moving this part to Results section, as a subsection 3.2, while adding subsection 3.1., e.g. Systematic review findings.
A clearer connection of the defined influencing factors with social, economic, environmental, (and institutional) aspects of sustainability is needed.
How do you relate to the aspect of the neighborhood design (both urban and architectural)? It is one of the key aspects of neighborhood sustainability, however, it seems left out of your analysis.
Comment No. 7:
Conclusions:
I suggest authors to refine this section in accordance with language related suggestions, provided in Comment No. 1.
Addressing the aforementioned points will improve the scientific rigor, coherence and clarity of the paper.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageI recommend professional English proofreading of the paper.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe primary purpose of this study is to explore the influencing factors suitable for sustainable communities in China through a systematic literature review and try to integrate them into a relationship framework. This is not easy considering the large number of factors that influence neighbourhood facilities in China, urbanism, residents' daily needs, all interrelated in multiple aspects
For the methodology the authors used a systematic literature review methodology.
For the results, the study indicates that in 2006 research on integrating neighbourhood facilities and sustainability mainly appeared and it showed a significant increase in 2020.
Several of the articles the authors reviewed and China’s existing regulations emphasize’ the importance of the Chinese authorities’ values in developing sustainable neighbourhoods and enhancing livability.
Supply capacity directly determines the service quality of neighbourhood facilities.
User attributes are determined by the actual residents and their characteristics.
User needs are key factors affecting sustainable implementation.
Accessibility is an important factor for easy connection with facilities to enhance easy access even by walking distances. And linked to accessibility with institutions ensuring that the neighbourhoods are well maintained, organized, considering the existing density of the population in that area. All this linked to spatial environment for creating economic spatial activities and land use within the neighbourhood.
Overall, I consider the topic interesting and relevant for the field, focusing on regulations, appearance and defining a sustainable, healthy neighbourhood.
The reference list seems appropriate and diverse, considering the introduction and methodology. The conclusion summarizes all and future studies with more recent articles will of course provide more data. As an advice, the conclusion seems a little less practical, could the authors provide an example of how this study could help future urban planners, architects, landscape designers?
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsIt can be accepted.
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors,
I believe that your manuscript has been significantly enhanced in accordance with most of the previous suggestions, and I have no additional comments regarding its current version.
