Analysis of the Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Shrinking Cities in China: Evidence from Nighttime Light

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is a well-presented paper describing the method used to map shrinking cities in China. It is thoroughly explained and analysed.  Graphically, the colour-coded maps and histograms of the results are clear and informative.  The analyses of the data are disciplined and of appropriate scientific standard.

The discussion of the mapping results is appropriate, however more discussion on current growing cities in China would balance the observations on the reasons for shrinking cities in China.  As well, some comments on the positive social and environmental projects initiated by the European EU Shrinking Cities Program would be of interest.

The topic should be of interest to the readers of the journal.

There are some minor revisions/corrections

line 29 typo/spelling of opening word

Line 32 'Life Circle' should be 'life-cycle'

Line 67 what is 'informationization?

What does 'era of space and flow' mean?

Table 2 needs to indicate which term is being defined.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript entitled "Analysis of the Spatio-temporal Patterns of Shrinking Cities in China: Evidence from Nighttime Light" a study to scientifically understand and evaluate city shrinkage and to provide a reference for further research and urban development decision-making.. However, it needs some points that need serious consideration.

1. The paper needs one more round of editing in terms of English and scientific writing style as some parts of the paper are misleading or have no logical order or flow due to lengthy sentences. The paper must go through editing and proofreading process before resubmission.
2. The main limitation of the paper is that it lacks critical related work. The historical perspective should be discussed as well. The proposed study is not critically evaluated and compared to the related work/state-of-the-art and is not identified and discussed its drawbacks and limitations. Thus, it is not easy to assess the real contribution of the paper in the field and how much is efficient in the proposed study compared to related works. A clear assessment of the contribution of the authors when compared to existing approaches should be given. 
3. The figures need to be reproduced with at least 300dpi resolution as in the current resolution it's difficult to read and observe.
4. It is advised to revise the Abstract and Conclusion. Both sections should be consistent in terms of Proposal, Problem statement, Results, and future work. As in the current format, both are a bit opposing each other.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx