Potential Land-Use Conflicts in the Urban Center of Chongqing Based on the “Production–Living–Ecological Space” Perspective

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The topic is very interesting since it studies the land uses of one of the most populous urban agglomerations in China and on a global scale.

It is also very ambitious since it reflects the comparison of land uses in the last 20 years (2000-2020).

The summary is very complete, including the first results of the investigation.

The “Introduction” chapter is perhaps a little lacking in information, although the bibliographical references are good.

The chapter on “Materials and methods” is very complete. In the ”field of study” subchapter, a framing of Chongqing in China as a whole is missing. Good formulation with the georeferenced data obtained.

The results obtained are very good, with important cartography and statistical tables. They reflect the variations in land use of this urban agglomeration

The discussions and conclusions have an acceptable development.

The bibliographical references are correct. However, it would be very wise to include the web hyperlinks of many of them in. [CrossRef]

In summary, the improvements boil down to:

- Better fit this urban agglomeration in the whole of China

- Hyperlink some of the bibliographical references [CrossRef]

 

The article is very good. I have only made a couple of observations

 

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

Point 1: The “Introduction” chapter is perhaps a little lacking in information, although the bibliographical references are good.

Response 1: Thanks for your suggestions. We have revised the “Introduction” chapter as follow:

“ The land is an indispensable and scarce resource to meet human production and life. Land-use conflicts (LUCs) describe the incoordination of land-use structure when meeting the diverse human demands under the deterioration of the natural environment, which is a sensitive indicator of human-environmental interaction [1]. Its essence is the process of game and competition between the human system and natural system in time and space in the same area [2]. It’s a manifestation of the uncoordinated development of the human-environment system, which will have many negative effects. LUCs are common in different regions of the world. Due to the rapid population growth and accelerating urbanization process, the demand for different land-use types is increasing [3]. The kinds of LUCs are also more and more diverse. Like the conflict between construction land expansion and essential farmland protection, the conflict between ecological land protection and production land expansion. The conflict between the increase in land demand and the degradation of land quality is becoming more and more prominent [4]. The drastic spatial change in land-use is one of the most critical manifestations of LUCs. The disorderly spatial pattern of PLES in the same region will place tremendous pressure on limited land resources and cause waste of spatial resources [5]. The LUCs pose severe challenges to the sustainability of the land system and regional coordinated development, which raises excellent concerns about LUCs.

It’s widely believed that the multi-functional of land-use, land resource scarcity, and diversity of human needs are the fundamental causes of LUCs [1, 6-9]. It occurs when different land users pursue their incompatible interests, they’ll compete for the scarce land resources. With the competition of spatial resources by humans, a series of LUCs problems are caused. Such as the land spatial pressure is increasing, the landscape ecological stability weakening, and spatial interference strengthening etc [10]. These problems were widespread in the world, especially in the rapid urbanization area. Therefore, how to identify the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and the potential risk of LUCs scientifically is the essential work and the core focus of LUCs research [11]. It was of great significant to alleviate the negative influence of conflict on land sustainability, promote the optimal allocation of regional land resources, and coordinate man-land relations [12].

“Production–living–ecological space” (PLES) is a theory put forward by the Chinese government in the strategy of ecological civilization construction, aiming at realizing sustainable utilization and focusing on the perspective of land multi-functional utilization [13]. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 14th 5-Year Plan of the CPC Central Committee on National Economic and Social Development both put forward the goal of developing the nation’s PLES. According to the muti-functional attributes of the land, the urban center of Chongqing (UCC)’s land was divided into ecological–production space (EPS), production–ecological space (PES), and living–production space (LPS), and ecological space (ES). The EPS is the space that with ecological and production function, and the main function is ecological. The PES is the space that is used primarily for agricultural production function and has an ecological function at the same time. The LPS is the space that meets the needs of human life and entertainment, and contains the highest economic value. The ES is the space that has ecological functions such as regulating the atmosphere, conserving water source, water and soil conservation, etc., but does not have a production function. Therefore, understanding LUCs and their evolution characteristics can provide a scientific guide for the optimization of the PLES. Although the importance and necessity are acknowledged, there is still a lack of effective analysis of LUCs for UCC.

Compared with existing studies that focused on regional land-use, and land-cover change, analyzing regional land-use conflicts can better reflect the interaction and relations between human and land resources[14]. As early as the 1970s, the study of LUCs began to attract wide attention over the world. It mainly studies the contradiction between human needs and economic development [15]. "Land management, land-use relations and conflicts" was one of the five main topics of the Urban Fringe Symposium organized by the English Countryside Association in 1977 [16]. With the ongoing concern for ecological civilization construction, the study of LUCs has gradually became the focus of scholars [17-19]. The number of studies on LUCs from different perspectives is gradually increasing [20, 21]. The recent decade of research on LUCs has reached a new height [22]. The research topics of LUCs were mainly as follows: (1) the LUCs patterns [23, 24]; (2) the LUCs identification and intensity diagnosis [25, 26]; and (3)the LUCs evolution and driving mechanism [1, 27]. Based on the existing research, the LUCs identification methods mainly include game theory [28], participatory mapping [29, 30], stress state response (PSR) model, multi-objective comprehensive assessment [2, 31, 32], and landscape ecological risk (LER) assessment [21, 33]. These studies have provided many references for the identification of LUCs in this study. But, there are few related studies on the central city area and from the PLES perspective.

Chongqing plays an vital role in the construction of ecological civilization in China. Such as, it plays a supporting position in the development of the western region in the new era, an exemplary role in the green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and a key role in driving the development of the Belt and Road. What’s more, Chongqing is also the youngest municipality with rapid urbanization in China. Due to the intensification of urbanization and rapid economic development, the dramatic changes in land-use structure have caused an imbalance of production, living and ecological spaces [1]. The degree of LUCs in the UCC has further deteriorated. The man-land relations are becoming increasingly tense. Therefore, we selected the urban center of Chongqing (UCC) as a study area, because this area is the economic and cultural center of the whole Chongqing. We analyzed the spatial evolution characteristics of LUCs and potential risk in the past 20 years in the UCC from the perspective of the PLES. Our study expanded the research perspective of LUCs identification, and provided a reference for those regions in the world whose development orientation is "ecological priority and green development". So that urban managers and policymakers may be better informed when developing pertinent land use policies and strategies at different levels. It’s helpful to relieve the level of LUCs in the rapid urbanization area, promote optimized land spatial patterns, the rational use of land resources, and the coordinated development of man-land relations in the world [11]. Our aim includes the following three objectives.

(1) Based on the LER assessment method to construct the evaluation model of LUCs from the PLES perspective;

(2) To identify the LUCs zones and diagnosis the conflict intensity;

and

(3) To construct a land-use conflicts risk index to explore the potential LUCs.”

 Point 2: In the ”field of study” subchapter, a framing of Chongqing in China as a whole is missing.

Response 2: Thanks for your suggestions. We have revised the “field of study” subchapter as follow:

“ Chongqing is a youngest municipality in China, is located inland in the southwest of China. Chongqing is an essential strategic fulcrum of China's western development. It is geographically located at the connection point of "the belt and road initiative" and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. It has a unique and vital development navigation orientation in the pattern of national regional economic development, and opening to the outside world. The UCC is the political, economic and cultural center of Chongqing, and this area is essential for the development of the city, and surrounding areas. The UCC includes nine districts: Yuzhong District, Shapingba District, Beibei District, Yubei District, Jiangbei District, Nan'an District, Banan District, Dadukou District and Jiulongpo District, with a total area of 5466km2 (Figure 1). The topography of the study area is complex and diverse, with hills and low mountains as the main ones and few flat dams. The principal streams are mainly the Yangtze River and the Jialing River. According to the Seventh National Population census, Chongqing has a population of 32.0542 million, with a GDP of 25,00.279 billion yuan. The UCC has a considerable population and a solid economic foundation. Its population and GDP accounted for 32.27% and 39.5% of the total urban population, respectively [34]. With the rapid growth of the economy and people, the LUCs of the PLES and the tension of man-land relations in the UCC are evident, and need to be paid more attention.”

Point 3: Hyperlink some of the bibliographical references.

Response 3: Thanks for your suggestions. We have added the hyperlinks to most of the regerences, because of the limited time. We will continue to add hyperlinks to the remaining literature later.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The research paper “An Analysis of Land-use Conflict Potential Risk based on the Perspective of "Production-Living-Ecological" space in the Urban Center Area of Chongqing” identifies and analyses spatial land use conflicts (or, as the authors term it, “land-use function conflicts”). The paper describes land use change and the development of land-use function conflicts in the area of Chongqing, China, over the period between the year 2000 and 2020. It shows that mostly production ecological space was lost during the period, mainly due to growth in living production space. The authors further find that conflicts have increased and became more severe. They also identify areas of conflict hot spots and cold spots and provide some recommendations to address the conflicts.

The paper addresses an important topic – the study of land use conflicts – which is highly relevant in the context of sustainable development. The paper is well-structured and based on relevant literature. However, several flaws need to be addressed:

Major issues:

1.     Most importantly, the relevance of this paper for an international readership is currently unclear. It describes land use change and land use function conflicts in the area of Chongqing which is certainly valuable knowledge locally. But what can international scholars learn from this study? This needs to be explained more clearly.  

2.     Related to this: The paper is very descriptive. The authors could add some generalizable conclusions that can be drawn from their data. Such as: Do land-use function conflicts typically occur in specific areas? Are there certain conditions that cause conflicts to become out of control? Such general conclusions that go beyond the specific region studied here would also help to make the paper more relevant to an international audience.

3.     Discussion section: The findings of this paper should be compared to findings of similar papers. There is a large body of literature on land use (function) conflicts in China and elsewhere in the world. Are the conflicts that were identified in this paper similar to what other scholars found elsewhere? Comparing the results to other literature could also allow to draw more generally applicable conclusions.

Minor issues:

4.     Line 44, Keywords: Consider adding “land use conflict” as a keyword, as not everyone interested in the topic will specifically search for “land use function conflicts”. “the urban center area of Chongqing” is too specific as a keyword. Consider breaking it up into more general terms.

Introduction:

5.     Line 48: The definition of land-use function conflict is very vague. Maybe the definition for “land use spatial conflicts” provided by Zhou et al. 2019 (already cited by the authors, reference number 16) could help to make the definition here more specific and clear.

6.     Line 48: The term “land-use function conflicts” should be written out with the abbreviation in brackets the first time it is used in the main text. The same with “PLE-space” (line 58).

7.     Line 58: The concept of “PLE-space” needs to be explained when the term is used for the first time in the introduction.

8.     Lines 145-148: The difference between “single land-use dynamic” and “bidirectional land-use dynamic” did not get clear to me. Maybe provide an example to illustrate the two concepts?

9.     Line 307: Please explain in more detail the content of Figure 4.

10.  Line 310: Please explain what you mean with “the characteristics of ‘two drop and two liters’”.

Discussion:

11.  Line 424: Throughout the paper only land-use function conflict is mentioned, but the discussion starts by referring to land-use conflict. The paper would be clearer if it focused only on land-use function conflict. Alternatively, the concept of land-use conflict should be introduced already in the introduction, and clearly defined so the difference between land-use conflict and land-use function conflict is clear (see the differentiation in Zhou et al. 2019).

Please note that the methodology used in this paper is not in my area of expertise and I cannot evaluate its quality.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 2 Comments

 

Dear reviewer, thanks for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have review the quality of my english throughout the manuscript.

 

Point 1: Most importantly, the relevance of this paper for an international readership is currently unclear. It describes land use change and land use function conflicts in the area of Chongqing which is certainly valuable knowledge locally. But what can international scholars learn from this study? This needs to be explained more clearly.  

Response 1: Thank you for your suggestions. We have added some describetion in the introduction to improve the relevance of this paper for an international readership:

“The land is an indispensable and scarce resource to meet human production and life. Land-use conflicts (LUCs) describe the incoordination of land-use structure when meeting the diverse human demands under the deterioration of the natural environment, which is a sensitive indicator of human-environmental interaction [1]. Its essence is the process of game and competition between the human system and natural system in time and space in the same area [2]. It’s a manifestation of the uncoordinated development of the human-environment system, which will have many negative effects. LUCs are common in different regions of the world. Due to the rapid population growth and accelerating urbanization process, the demand for different land-use types is increasing [3]. The kinds of LUCs are also more and more diverse. Like the conflict between construction land expansion and essential farmland protection, the conflict between ecological land protection and production land expansion. The conflict between the increase in land demand and the degradation of land quality is becoming more and more prominent [4]. The drastic spatial change in land-use is one of the most critical manifestations of LUCs. The disorderly spatial pattern of PLES in the same region will place tremendous pressure on limited land resources and cause waste of spatial resources [5]. The LUCs pose severe challenges to the sustainability of the land system and regional coordinated development, which raises excellent concerns about LUCs.

It’s widely believed that the multi-functional of land-use, land resource scarcity, and diversity of human needs are the fundamental causes of LUCs [1, 6-9]. It occurs when different land users pursue their incompatible interests, they’ll compete for the scarce land resources. With the competition of spatial resources by humans, a series of LUCs problems are caused. Such as the land spatial pressure is increasing, the landscape ecological stability weakening, and spatial interference strengthening etc [10]. These problems were widespread in the world, especially in the rapid urbanization area. Therefore, how to identify the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and the potential risk of LUCs scientifically is the essential work and the core focus of LUCs research [11]. It was of great significant to alleviate the negative influence of conflict on land sustainability, promote the optimal allocation of regional land resources, and coordinate man-land relations [12].

“Production–living–ecological space” (PLES) is a theory put forward by the Chinese government in the strategy of ecological civilization construction, aiming at realizing sustainable utilization and focusing on the perspective of land multi-functional utilization [13]. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 14th 5-Year Plan of the CPC Central Committee on National Economic and Social Development both put forward the goal of developing the nation’s PLES. According to the muti-functional attributes of the land, the urban center of Chongqing (UCC)’s land was divided into ecological–production space (EPS), production–ecological space (PES), and living–production space (LPS), and ecological space (ES). The EPS is the space that with ecological and production function, and the main function is ecological. The PES is the space that is used primarily for agricultural production function and has an ecological function at the same time. The LPS is the space that meets the needs of human life and entertainment, and contains the highest economic value. The ES is the space that has ecological functions such as regulating the atmosphere, conserving water source, water and soil conservation, etc., but does not have a production function. Therefore, understanding LUCs and their evolution characteristics can provide a scientific guide for the optimization of the PLES. Although the importance and necessity are acknowledged, there is still a lack of effective analysis of LUCs for UCC.

Compared with existing studies that focused on regional land-use, and land-cover change, analyzing regional land-use conflicts can better reflect the interaction and relations between human and land resources[14]. As early as the 1970s, the study of LUCs began to attract wide attention over the world. It mainly studies the contradiction between human needs and economic development [15]. "Land management, land-use relations and conflicts" was one of the five main topics of the Urban Fringe Symposium organized by the English Countryside Association in 1977 [16]. With the ongoing concern for ecological civilization construction, the study of LUCs has gradually became the focus of scholars [17-19]. The number of studies on LUCs from different perspectives is gradually increasing [20, 21]. The recent decade of research on LUCs has reached a new height [22]. The research topics of LUCs were mainly as follows: (1) the LUCs patterns [23, 24]; (2) the LUCs identification and intensity diagnosis [25, 26]; and (3)the LUCs evolution and driving mechanism [1, 27]. Based on the existing research, the LUCs identification methods mainly include game theory [28], participatory mapping [29, 30], stress state response (PSR) model, multi-objective comprehensive assessment [2, 31, 32], and landscape ecological risk (LER) assessment [21, 33]. These studies have provided many references for the identification of LUCs in this study. But, there are few related studies on the central city area and from the PLES perspective.

Chongqing plays an vital role in the construction of ecological civilization in China. Such as, it plays a supporting position in the development of the western region in the new era, an exemplary role in the green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and a key role in driving the development of the Belt and Road. What’s more, Chongqing is also the youngest municipality with rapid urbanization in China. Due to the intensification of urbanization and rapid economic development, the dramatic changes in land-use structure have caused an imbalance of production, living and ecological spaces [1]. The degree of LUCs in the UCC has further deteriorated. The man-land relations are becoming increasingly tense. Therefore, we selected the urban center of Chongqing (UCC) as a study area, because this area is the economic and cultural center of the whole Chongqing. We analyzed the spatial evolution characteristics of LUCs and potential risk in the past 20 years in the UCC from the perspective of the PLES. Our study expanded the research perspective of LUCs identification, and provided a reference for those regions in the world whose development orientation is "ecological priority and green development". So that urban managers and policymakers may be better informed when developing pertinent land use policies and strategies at different levels. It’s helpful to relieve the level of LUCs in the rapid urbanization area, promote optimized land spatial patterns, the rational use of land resources, and the coordinated development of man-land relations in the world [11]. Our aim includes the following three objectives.

(1) Based on the LER assessment method to construct the evaluation model of LUCs from the PLES perspective;

(2) To identify the LUCs zones and diagnosis the conflict intensity;

and

(3) To construct a land-use conflicts risk index to explore the potential LUCs.”

 

Point 2: Related to this: The paper is very descriptive. The authors could add some generalizable conclusions that can be drawn from their data. Such as: Do land-use function conflicts typically occur in specific areas? Are there certain conditions that cause conflicts to become out of control? Such general conclusions that go beyond the specific region studied here would also help to make the paper more relevant to an international audience.

Response 2: Thank you for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have added some generalizable conclusions in the conclusion part:

“The paper selected the UCC as the study area. From the view of the PLES, based on the leading function of land-use and the situation of the study area. The PLES were divided into four types: EPS, PES, LPS, and ES. Based on the LER assessment method, a LUCs model was constructed. The LUCs in the study area was divided into four degrees: stable controllable, basic controllable, basic out-of-control, and serious out-of-control. And the spatial relationship and potential risk of LUCs were analyzed by using the methods of the hot-spot analysis and neighborhood analysis. The conclusions were as follows:

(1)The land-use types in the UCC were divided into four spatial types. From 2000 to 2020, the PES was in the dominant position in the study area, followed by EPS, LPS, and ES. The rate and transfer intensity of LPS is highest among the other spaces. It showed that during the process of rapid urbanization, the LPS mainly eroded the PES and EPS.

(2)The average conflict level of UCC has increased over the past 20 years. It posed a serious threat to the ecological environment of Chongqing. In the process of rapid urbanization, the area of basic and serious out-of-control zones increased and occupied almost 56%. While the area of stable and basic controllable decreased. The mutual occupation between the production, living and ecological land made the LUCs and the man-land relations become increasingly tense.

(3)LUCs typically occur in specific areas. The population agglomeration and regional economic development positioning will cause conflicts to become out of control. The out-of-control conflict zones are gathered in concentrated areas of social and economic activities, due to the complex social and economic activities and convenient transportation facilities. The controllable conflict zones gathered in high-altitude forest areas. These areas were typical hilly, and mountains, the remote geographical location, and the economy was relatively backward.

The UCC faced the potential risk of the LUCs, but not seriously. The zones of low potential conflict, general potential conflict, high potential conflict and extreme potential conflict account for 43.43%, 32.27%, 17.37%, 6.93% in 2000, and 41.5%, 33.2%, 16.22%, 9.08% in 2020. The areas of high and extreme potential conflicts were increased. The hot spots for LUCs’ potential distribution were concentrated in the western and northern areas of the study area, Especially in the north of Yubei district, and the junction of Shapingba district and Beibei district.” 

 

Point 3: Discussion section: The findings of this paper should be compared to findings of similar papers. There is a large body of literature on land use (function) conflicts in China and elsewhere in the world. Are the conflicts that were identified in this paper similar to what other scholars found elsewhere? Comparing the results to other literature could also allow to draw more generally applicable conclusions.

Response 3: Thank you for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have revised the discussion section:

“The land-use conflict reflects the competition of stakeholders for scarce land resources, and the land use contradiction produced for the realization of their respective interests [54]. The ultimate goal of land-use conflict research is for contradiction reconciliation and relieving man-land relations. These are intended to develop reasonable reconciliation programs to promote sustainable development in the study area [55]. The key is to identify the distribution, manifestation, and degrees of conflicts, and take them as a basis to set up targeted governance strategies. We selected the UCC as a new study area. Based on the LER assessment method, we established the a LUCs model to analyze the spatial relationship and potential risk of LUCs in the past 20 years. Compared to the findings of similar papers, the multi-functional land-use, land resource scarcity, and diversity of human needs are the fundamental causes of LUCs. The conflicts zones are gathered in concentrated areas of social and economic activities. Rural-urban border areas are particularly vulnerable to the potential risk of LUCs, because of high population movements and lack of government supervision.

In our paper, we hope to have provided targeted management strategies for different LUCs zones, and promote the harmonious development of regional man-land relations. In particular:

(1)In the stable controllable zone

The stable controllable zone is mainly concentrated on the edge of Chongqing, where the economy is relatively backward, and the land-use type is dominated by forest. The degree and potential risk of LUCs are weak. These zones should strictly prohibit  human activities, and increase ecological subsidies to encourage low-efficiency farmland to return to the forest.

(2)In the basic controllable zone

The area of basic controllable zone was reduced heavily by 18.48% in the last 20 years. Due to the decrease in production ecological space(PES), the increase in living production space(LPS). This zone is located in the transition area between human production-life and ecological protection, and does not pose a threat to the regional sustainable land use, but has the potential risk and possibility of LUCs. Thus, slightly stronger management measures and more diverse management methods will also be applied. All human activities must be based on the premise of not destroying regional natural ecosystems and farmland ecosystems.

(3)Basic out-of-control zone

The area of basic out-of-control zone increased by nearly 13% from 2000 to 2020,  occupying almost 47% of the study area in 2020. It posed a serious threat to the ecological environment of Chongqing. This zone was mainly distributed in the core and the peripheral regions of urban economic development, which were human production, and living intensive activity areas. The LUCs between production, living, and ecological were very intense, and basic out-of-control, and were the focus of governance areas. It was necessary to prevent its evolution into serious out-of-control areas, and delineate the growth boundary of production and living space according to the land use overall plan. It also needs to strengthen the construction of ecological civilization in this area, and enhance the awareness of ecological culture of local people, to avoid further deterioration of the ecological environment.

(4)Serious out-of-control zone

The proportion of this region in 2020 is 8.54%, a 6.27% increase from 2000. Compared with the basic out-of-control zone, the LUCs in this zone had reached a stage that it’s challenging to recover from human intervention. The production, living and ecological functions of the land have been extensively exploited, and the conflicts of land functions are particularly intense. In the process of governance, the definition of the status of the “production–living–ecological space” function is followed, in which the production function is the basis, the living function is the purpose, and the ecological function is the guarantee[43]. The government must take the strictest control measures on the expansion of construction land, and the most potent protection measures for ecological protection.

In this paper, the complexity, fragility, and stability of spatial patterns were taken as the basis for calculating conflict. It should be pointed out that methods and ideas of this study need to be improved:

(1)The method of LUCs we used was based on the LER assessment, so that the factor chosen in the calculation of conflict relied too much on the present situation of land-use function. However, the manifestation, formation mechanism, and influencing factors of spatial conflict are highly complex, involving resources, environment, society, and economy.

(2)The LUCs in our study is caused by the disorderly spatial pattern of PLES, which only reflect the incoordination of the land-use structure. But as the discussions in the literature [56-61], the types of LUCs are various. Such as regional conflicts, socio-environmental conflicts, structure and function conflicts of an urban system, land system conflicts, and cultural conflicts. We’ll explore these types in the future.

(3) Our research carried on the foundation analysis of the evolution and the potential risk of LUCs in the UCC from the view of the PLES. We did not simulate and predict the future development trend of land-use function conflict in the study area, so it is difficult to analyze and solve the conflict problem comprehensively. Therefore, this will be our future direction for further research.”

 

Point 4: Line 44, Keywords: Consider adding “land use conflict” as a keyword, as not everyone interested in the topic will specifically search for “land use function conflicts”. “the urban center area of Chongqing” is too specific as a keyword. Consider breaking it up into more general terms.

Response 4: Thank you for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have added the keywords: Land-use conflicts, Landscape ecological risk, Man-land relations, and removed “land use function conflicts” and “the urban center area of Chongqing”.

 

Point 5: Line 48: The definition of land-use function conflict is very vague. Maybe the definition for “land use spatial conflicts” provided by Zhou et al. 2019 (already cited by the authors, reference number 16) could help to make the definition here more specific and clear.

Response 5: Thank you for your suggestions. We have reelaborated the definition of land-use conflicts. The definition is as follow:

“The land is an indispensable and scarce resource to meet human production and life. Land-use conflicts (LUCs) describe the incoordination of land-use structure when meeting the diverse human demands under the deterioration of the natural environment, which is a sensitive indicator of human-environmental interaction [1]. Its essence is the process of game and competition between the human system and natural system in time and space in the same area [2]. It’s a manifestation of the uncoordinated development of the human-environment system, which will have many negative effects. LUCs are common in different regions of the world. Due to the rapid population growth and accelerating urbanization process, the demand for different land-use types is increasing [3]. The kinds of LUCs are also more and more diverse. Like the conflict between construction land expansion and essential farmland protection, the conflict between ecological land protection and production land expansion. The conflict between the increase in land demand and the degradation of land quality is becoming more and more prominent [4]. The drastic spatial change in land-use is one of the most critical manifestations of LUCs. The disorderly spatial pattern of PLES in the same region will place tremendous pressure on limited land resources and cause waste of spatial resources [5]. The LUCs pose severe challenges to the sustainability of the land system and regional coordinated development, which raises excellent concerns about LUCs.

It’s widely believed that the multi-functional of land-use, land resource scarcity, and diversity of human needs are the fundamental causes of LUCs [1, 6-9]. It occurs when different land users pursue their incompatible interests, they’ll compete for the scarce land resources. With the competition of spatial resources by humans, a series of LUCs problems are caused. Such as the land spatial pressure is increasing, the landscape ecological stability weakening, and spatial interference strengthening etc [10]. These problems were widespread in the world, especially in the rapid urbanization area.”

 

Point 6: Line 48: The term “land-use function conflicts” should be written out with the abbreviation in brackets the first time it is used in the main text. The same with “PLE-space” (line 58).

Response 6: Thank you for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have revised these words.

 

Point 7. Line 58: The concept of “PLE-space” needs to be explained when the term is used for the first time in the introduction.

Response 7: Thank you for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have added the explaination of the concept of “PLE-space” in the introduction: 

“ ‘Production–living–ecological space’ (PLES) is a theory put forward by the Chinese government in the strategy of ecological civilization construction, aiming at realizing sustainable utilization and focusing on the perspective of land multi-functional utilization [13]. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 14th 5-Year Plan of the CPC Central Committee on National Economic and Social Development both put forward the goal of developing the nation’s PLES. According to the muti-functional attributes of the land, the urban center of Chongqing (UCC)’s land was divided into ecological–production space (EPS), production–ecological space (PES), and living–production space (LPS), and ecological space (ES). The EPS is the space that with ecological and production function, and the main function is ecological. The PES is the space that is used primarily for agricultural production function and has an ecological function at the same time. The LPS is the space that meets the needs of human life and entertainment, and contains the highest economic value. The ES is the space that has ecological functions such as regulating the atmosphere, conserving water source, water and soil conservation, etc., but does not have a production function.”

 

Point 8. Lines 145-148: The difference between “single land-use dynamic” and “bidirectional land-use dynamic” did not get clear to me. Maybe provide an example to illustrate the two concepts?

Response 8: Thank you for your suggestions. The “single land-use dynamic” mainly reflects the rate of change of a single land-use type in a certain period. The “bidirectional land-use dynamic” is further supplement to a complement to the “single land-use dynamic”. It can better describe the change process and the direction of a certain kind of land-use, which mainly reflects the transfer intensity between land-use types. For example, from 2010 to 2020, although the LCDI_i of the EPS is -0.04%, and the LCDI_i of the ES is 0.09%. But the BLCDI_i of the EPS is 1.12%, and the BLCDI_i of the ES is 0.99%. It shows that although the rate of change of the ES is faster than the rate of change of the EPS over these 10 years. But the transfer intensity between the EPS and other spaces is stronger than the transfer intensity between the ES and other spaces.

 

Point 9. Line 307: Please explain in more detail the content of Figure 4.

Response 9: Thank you for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have added the descriptions of Figure 5 ( The original number of this Figure is “Figure 4” ) :

 “According to formulas (3)-(7), the LUCs in the UCC was calculated and visually expressed (Figure 5). We derived spatial patterns of the UCC’s land-use conflicts from 2000 to 2020. The distribution pattern was "high in the south and low in the north" in 2000. The LUCs was higher on the southern side of the UCC, especially in the center area of the UCC and the northeastern of Banan District. The relatively high LUCs in the south of regions were dominated by the basic out-of-control zone and the serious out-of-control zone. From 2000 to 2010, the basic out-of-control zone had spread around. It is worth noting that by 2010, the level of the LUCs in the Yuzhong District changed from the basic out-of-control to the basic control. From 2010 to 2020, the basic out-of-control zone was widely distributed in the UCC gradually. The serious out-of-control zone was distributed on the northern side of the UCC, especially in the Yubei District and Beibei District. Therefore, the spatial distribution pattern was “high in the north and low in the south” in 2020. The relatively high LUCs in the northern regions were also dominated by the serious out-of-control zone, and the basic out-of-control zone. The main gathering areas of the basic out-of-control zone, and the serious out-of-control zone gradually expanded from Dadukou District, Jiulongpo District and Yuzhong District to Shapingba District, Beibei District, Yubei District, Nan'an District and Banan District. From 2000 to 2020, Chongqing's economy developed rapidly, the urban traffic network changed from simple to complex, the medical facilities changed from few to many, and the construction land changed from scattered to concentrated. The rapid urbanization process caused serious conflict between the PLES. The area of controllable decreased, while the area of out-of-control increased in the UCC from 2000 to 2020.”

 

Point 10.Line 310: Please explain what you mean with “the characteristics of ‘two drop and two liters’”.

Response 10: Thank you for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have added the description of “two decreases and two increases” :

“In the process of rapid urbanization, the characteristics of “two decreases and two increases” appeared. The characteristic of “two decreases” means the area of the stable control zone and area of the basic control zone had declined. The characteristic of “two increases” means the area of the basic out-of-control zone and the area of the serious out-of-control zone has increased.”

 

Point 11.Line 424: Throughout the paper only land-use function conflict is mentioned, but the discussion starts by referring to land-use conflict. The paper would be clearer if it focused only on land-use function conflict. Alternatively, the concept of land-use conflict should be introduced already in the introduction, and clearly defined so the difference between land-use conflict and land-use function conflict is clear (see the differentiation in Zhou et al. 2019).

Response 11: Thank you for your suggestions. According to your comments, the definition of land-use conflicts in our paper is the incoordination of land-use structure, that due to the rapid population growth and accelerating urbanization process. It poses severe challenges to the sustainability of land system and regional coordinated development. We have reelaborated the definition of land-use conflicts in the introduction.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

General comments:

The manuscript, entitled "An Analysis of Land-use Conflict Potential Risk based on the Perspective of “Production-Living-Ecological” space in the Urban Center Area of Chongqing " used the land-use/cover data in 2000, 2010, and 2020. From the view of "production-living- ecological” space (PLE-space), based on the leading function of land use and the situation of the Urban Center Area of Chongqing. There are some issues with this manuscript, mainly related to the readability and composition of the manuscript.

 Please review the quality of your English throughout the manuscript.

Specific comments:

Point 1: The abstract is more of a statement of objectives than a summary of all the parts of the article. There is a lack of explanation of the methodology and the conclusions, recommendations are not detected. It does not cover all parts. It is recommended to structure it better.

Point 2: I recommend to the authors the introduction part can be further enriched to provide sufficient background and references. Line 47-95.

Point 3: This paper is lack of conceptual framework and discussion.

Point 4: All the figures in the document show poor graphic resolution. They are not seen clearly. Their resolution should be improved as they are not clearly understood. And also add all map elements like a grid and improve the layout.

 

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 3 Comments

Point 1: Please review the quality of your English throughout the manuscript.

Response 1: Thanks for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have revised the quality of my english throughout the manuscript.

 

Point 2: The abstract is more of a statement of objectives than a summary of all the parts of the article. There is a lack of explanation of the methodology and the conclusions, recommendations are not detected. It does not cover all parts. It is recommended to structure it better.

Response 2: Thanks for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have revised the abstract:

“With the rapid population growth and accelerating urbanization process, people compete for the scarce land resources to pursue their incompatible interests. So, a series of land-use conflicts (LUCs) problems are caused. Scientificly identify the intensity of LUCs is the basis for coordinating the man-land relations. We selected the urban center of Chongqing (UCC) as the study area and chose the landscape ecological risk assessment to estimate the level of LUCs. By using the hot-spot analysis and neighborhood analysis to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and potential risk of LUCs in the UCC over the past 20 years. The results show that the conversion between LPS and other spaces was most frequent. The assessment model based on the theoretical framework of landscape ecological risk assessment could effectively measure LUCs. The average conflict level of UCC has increased from 0.62 to 0.69. The area of the out-of-control zone has increased, forming hot spots in the concentrated areas of social and economic activities. In contrast, the area of the controllable zone has decreased, forming cold spots in the high-altitude forest areas. The entire area faced the potential risk of the LUCs, but not seriously. The area of the high and extreme potential conflict zones has increased and concentrated in the northern region of the study area. Targeted management strategies and policy recommendations for regional development should be adopted for different LUCs zones in UCC at international and national levels. Our research can be extended to other areas under rapid urbanization to assess and better manage their land resources for sustainable use, and further to promote the harmonious development of regional man-land relations.”

Point 3: I recommend to the authors the introduction part can be further enriched to provide sufficient background and references. Line 47-95.

Response 3: Thanks for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have revised the introduction:

“The land is an indispensable and scarce resource to meet human production and life. Land-use conflicts (LUCs) describe the incoordination of land-use structure when meeting the diverse human demands under the deterioration of the natural environment, which is a sensitive indicator of human-environmental interaction [1]. Its essence is the process of game and competition between the human system and natural system in time and space in the same area [2]. It’s a manifestation of the uncoordinated development of the human-environment system, which will have many negative effects. LUCs are common in different regions of the world. Due to the rapid population growth and accelerating urbanization process, the demand for different land-use types is increasing [3]. The kinds of LUCs are also more and more diverse. Like the conflict between construction land expansion and essential farmland protection, the conflict between ecological land protection and production land expansion. The conflict between the increase in land demand and the degradation of land quality is becoming more and more prominent [4]. The drastic spatial change in land-use is one of the most critical manifestations of LUCs. The disorderly spatial pattern of PLES in the same region will place tremendous pressure on limited land resources and cause waste of spatial resources [5]. The LUCs pose severe challenges to the sustainability of the land system and regional coordinated development, which raises excellent concerns about LUCs.

It’s widely believed that the multi-functional of land-use, land resource scarcity, and diversity of human needs are the fundamental causes of LUCs [1, 6-9]. It occurs when different land users pursue their incompatible interests, they’ll compete for the scarce land resources. With the competition of spatial resources by humans, a series of LUCs problems are caused. Such as the land spatial pressure is increasing, the landscape ecological stability weakening, and spatial interference strengthening etc [10]. These problems were widespread in the world, especially in the rapid urbanization area. Therefore, how to identify the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and the potential risk of LUCs scientifically is the essential work and the core focus of LUCs research [11]. It was of great significant to alleviate the negative influence of conflict on land sustainability, promote the optimal allocation of regional land resources, and coordinate man-land relations [12].

“Production–living–ecological space” (PLES) is a theory put forward by the Chinese government in the strategy of ecological civilization construction, aiming at realizing sustainable utilization and focusing on the perspective of land multi-functional utilization [13]. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 14th 5-Year Plan of the CPC Central Committee on National Economic and Social Development both put forward the goal of developing the nation’s PLES. According to the muti-functional attributes of the land, the urban center of Chongqing (UCC)’s land was divided into ecological–production space (EPS), production–ecological space (PES), and living–production space (LPS), and ecological space (ES). The EPS is the space that with ecological and production function, and the main function is ecological. The PES is the space that is used primarily for agricultural production function and has an ecological function at the same time. The LPS is the space that meets the needs of human life and entertainment, and contains the highest economic value. The ES is the space that has ecological functions such as regulating the atmosphere, conserving water source, water and soil conservation, etc., but does not have a production function. Therefore, understanding LUCs and their evolution characteristics can provide a scientific guide for the optimization of the PLES. Although the importance and necessity are acknowledged, there is still a lack of effective analysis of LUCs for UCC.

Compared with existing studies that focused on regional land-use, and land-cover change, analyzing regional land-use conflicts can better reflect the interaction and relations between human and land resources[14]. As early as the 1970s, the study of LUCs began to attract wide attention over the world. It mainly studies the contradiction between human needs and economic development [15]. "Land management, land-use relations and conflicts" was one of the five main topics of the Urban Fringe Symposium organized by the English Countryside Association in 1977 [16]. With the ongoing concern for ecological civilization construction, the study of LUCs has gradually became the focus of scholars [17-19]. The number of studies on LUCs from different perspectives is gradually increasing [20, 21]. The recent decade of research on LUCs has reached a new height [22]. The research topics of LUCs were mainly as follows: (1) the LUCs patterns [23, 24]; (2) the LUCs identification and intensity diagnosis [25, 26]; and (3)the LUCs evolution and driving mechanism [1, 27]. Based on the existing research, the LUCs identification methods mainly include game theory [28], participatory mapping [29, 30], stress state response (PSR) model, multi-objective comprehensive assessment [2, 31, 32], and landscape ecological risk (LER) assessment [21, 33]. These studies have provided many references for the identification of LUCs in this study. But, there are few related studies on the central city area and from the PLES perspective.

Chongqing plays an vital role in the construction of ecological civilization in China. Such as, it plays a supporting position in the development of the western region in the new era, an exemplary role in the green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and a key role in driving the development of the Belt and Road. What’s more, Chongqing is also the youngest municipality with rapid urbanization in China. Due to the intensification of urbanization and rapid economic development, the dramatic changes in land-use structure have caused an imbalance of production, living and ecological spaces [1]. The degree of LUCs in the UCC has further deteriorated. The man-land relations are becoming increasingly tense. Therefore, we selected the urban center of Chongqing (UCC) as a study area, because this area is the economic and cultural center of the whole Chongqing. We analyzed the spatial evolution characteristics of LUCs and potential risk in the past 20 years in the UCC from the perspective of the PLES. Our study expanded the research perspective of LUCs identification, and provided a reference for those regions in the world whose development orientation is "ecological priority and green development". So that urban managers and policymakers may be better informed when developing pertinent land use policies and strategies at different levels. It’s helpful to relieve the level of LUCs in the rapid urbanization area, promote optimized land spatial patterns, the rational use of land resources, and the coordinated development of man-land relations in the world [11]. Our aim includes the following three objectives.

(1) Based on the LER assessment method to construct the evaluation model of LUCs from the PLES perspective;

(2) To identify the LUCs zones and diagnosis the conflict intensity;

and

(3) To construct a land-use conflicts risk index to explore the potential LUCs.”

Point 4: This paper is lack of conceptual framework and discussion.

Response 4: Thanks for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have added the conceptual framework in the Section 2.3.3: “Construction of LUCs assessment model”.

“ We choose the method of the LER assessment to measure the intensity of LUCs. Because we consider that the LUCs and landscape ecological risk assessment are highly related (Figure 2).”

Point 5: All the figures in the document show poor graphic resolution. They are not seen clearly. Their resolution should be improved as they are not clearly understood. And also add all map elements like a grid and improve the layout.

Response 5: Thanks for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have refered a number of literatures and revised the figures in the document. The references are below:

 

1. Zou, L.; Liu, Y.; J. Wang; Yang, Y. An analysis of land use conflict potents based on ecological-production-living function in the southern coastal area of China. Ecol. Indic. 2021, 122, 107297.
2. Cheng, Z.; Zhang, Y.; Wang, L.; Wei, L.; Wu, X. An Analysis of Land-Use Conflict Potential Based on the Perspective of Production–Living–Ecological Function. Sustainability.2022, 14, 5936.
3. Dong, G.; Ge, Y.; Jia, H.;Sun, C.; Pan, S. Land Use Multi-Suitability, Land Resource Scarcity and Diversity of Human Needs: A New Framework for Land Use Conflict Identification. Land 2021, 10, 1003.
4. Cie´slak, I.; Biłozor, A. AnAnalysis of an Area’s Vulnerability to the Emergence of Land-Use Conflicts. Land 2021, 10, 1173.
5. Wang, D.; Fu, J.; Jiang, D.Optimization of Production–Living–Ecological Space in National Key Poverty-Stricken City of Southwest  Land 2022, 11, 411.
6. Zhou, D.; Lin, Z.; Lim, S.H. Spatial characters and risk factor identification for land use spatial conflicts in a rapid urbanization region in China. Environ. Monit. Assess. 2019, 191,677.
7. Song, J.; Meng, J.; Zhu, L. Spatial and temporal analyses of potential land use conflict under the constraints of water resources in the middle reaches of the Heihe River. Land Use Policy 2020, 97, 104773.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

please see the attached report

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 4 Comments

Point 1: The English language must be improved.

Response 1: Thanks for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have revised the quality of my english throughout the manuscript.

 Point 2: Abstract：The structure of the abstract is not well organized. Please see the guideline of the journal. The abstract can be reorganized. An ideal abstract of a research paper should include the problem statement, the main purpose of the study, methods used, some findings, and concluding remarks.The abstract is also too large. Please follow the word limit of abstract of the journal. In some cases (line 19-21), the meaning of the sentences is not clear. Please improve the abstract.

Response 2: Thanks for your suggestions. We have revised the abstract:

“With the rapid population growth and accelerating urbanization process, people compete for the scarce land resources to pursue their incompatible interests. So, a series of land-use conflicts (LUCs) problems are caused. Scientificly identify the intensity of LUCs is the basis for coordinating the man-land relations. We selected the urban center of Chongqing (UCC) as the study area and chose the landscape ecological risk assessment to estimate the level of LUCs. By using the hot-spot analysis and neighborhood analysis to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and potential risk of LUCs in the UCC over the past 20 years. The results show that the conversion between LPS and other spaces was most frequent. The assessment model based on the theoretical framework of landscape ecological risk assessment could effectively measure LUCs. The average conflict level of UCC has increased from 0.62 to 0.69. The area of the out-of-control zone has increased, forming hot spots in the concentrated areas of social and economic activities. In contrast, the area of the controllable zone has decreased, forming cold spots in the high-altitude forest areas. The entire area faced the potential risk of the LUCs, but not seriously. The area of the high and extreme potential conflict zones has increased and concentrated in the northern region of the study area. Targeted management strategies and policy recommendations for regional development should be adopted for different LUCs zones in UCC at international and national levels. Our research can be extended to other areas under rapid urbanization to assess and better manage their land resources for sustainable use, and further to promote the harmonious development of regional man-land relations.”

Point 3: Introduction：• The introduction was not developed continuously. Some structural improvement is necessary. The introduction section should be restructured to include the following paragraphs: background, problem statement, review of relevant studies to address the problem, clear statement of the gap, research contribution(s), and the outlines of the manuscript. I could not find the research gaps and contribution statement in the introduction section.

Response 3: Thanks for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have revised the introduction:

“ The land is an indispensable and scarce resource to meet human production and life. Land-use conflicts (LUCs) describe the incoordination of land-use structure when meeting the diverse human demands under the deterioration of the natural environment, which is a sensitive indicator of human-environmental interaction [1]. Its essence is the process of game and competition between the human system and natural system in time and space in the same area [2]. It’s a manifestation of the uncoordinated development of the human-environment system, which will have many negative effects. LUCs are common in different regions of the world. Due to the rapid population growth and accelerating urbanization process, the demand for different land-use types is increasing [3]. The kinds of LUCs are also more and more diverse. Like the conflict between construction land expansion and essential farmland protection, the conflict between ecological land protection and production land expansion. The conflict between the increase in land demand and the degradation of land quality is becoming more and more prominent [4]. The drastic spatial change in land-use is one of the most critical manifestations of LUCs. The disorderly spatial pattern of PLES in the same region will place tremendous pressure on limited land resources and cause waste of spatial resources [5]. The LUCs pose severe challenges to the sustainability of the land system and regional coordinated development, which raises excellent concerns about LUCs.

It’s widely believed that the multi-functional of land-use, land resource scarcity, and diversity of human needs are the fundamental causes of LUCs [1, 6-9]. It occurs when different land users pursue their incompatible interests, they’ll compete for the scarce land resources. With the competition of spatial resources by humans, a series of LUCs problems are caused. Such as the land spatial pressure is increasing, the landscape ecological stability weakening, and spatial interference strengthening etc [10]. These problems were widespread in the world, especially in the rapid urbanization area. Therefore, how to identify the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and the potential risk of LUCs scientifically is the essential work and the core focus of LUCs research [11]. It was of great significant to alleviate the negative influence of conflict on land sustainability, promote the optimal allocation of regional land resources, and coordinate man-land relations [12].

“Production–living–ecological space” (PLES) is a theory put forward by the Chinese government in the strategy of ecological civilization construction, aiming at realizing sustainable utilization and focusing on the perspective of land multi-functional utilization [13]. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 14th 5-Year Plan of the CPC Central Committee on National Economic and Social Development both put forward the goal of developing the nation’s PLES. According to the muti-functional attributes of the land, the urban center of Chongqing (UCC)’s land was divided into ecological–production space (EPS), production–ecological space (PES), and living–production space (LPS), and ecological space (ES). The EPS is the space that with ecological and production function, and the main function is ecological. The PES is the space that is used primarily for agricultural production function and has an ecological function at the same time. The LPS is the space that meets the needs of human life and entertainment, and contains the highest economic value. The ES is the space that has ecological functions such as regulating the atmosphere, conserving water source, water and soil conservation, etc., but does not have a production function. Therefore, understanding LUCs and their evolution characteristics can provide a scientific guide for the optimization of the PLES. Although the importance and necessity are acknowledged, there is still a lack of effective analysis of LUCs for UCC.

Compared with existing studies that focused on regional land-use, and land-cover change, analyzing regional land-use conflicts can better reflect the interaction and relations between human and land resources[14]. As early as the 1970s, the study of LUCs began to attract wide attention over the world. It mainly studies the contradiction between human needs and economic development [15]. "Land management, land-use relations and conflicts" was one of the five main topics of the Urban Fringe Symposium organized by the English Countryside Association in 1977 [16]. With the ongoing concern for ecological civilization construction, the study of LUCs has gradually became the focus of scholars [17-19]. The number of studies on LUCs from different perspectives is gradually increasing [20, 21]. The recent decade of research on LUCs has reached a new height [22]. The research topics of LUCs were mainly as follows: (1) the LUCs patterns [23, 24]; (2) the LUCs identification and intensity diagnosis [25, 26]; and (3)the LUCs evolution and driving mechanism [1, 27]. Based on the existing research, the LUCs identification methods mainly include game theory [28], participatory mapping [29, 30], stress state response (PSR) model, multi-objective comprehensive assessment [2, 31, 32], and landscape ecological risk (LER) assessment [21, 33]. These studies have provided many references for the identification of LUCs in this study. But, there are few related studies on the central city area and from the PLES perspective.

Chongqing plays an vital role in the construction of ecological civilization in China. Such as, it plays a supporting position in the development of the western region in the new era, an exemplary role in the green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and a key role in driving the development of the Belt and Road. What’s more, Chongqing is also the youngest municipality with rapid urbanization in China. Due to the intensification of urbanization and rapid economic development, the dramatic changes in land-use structure have caused an imbalance of production, living and ecological spaces [1]. The degree of LUCs in the UCC has further deteriorated. The man-land relations are becoming increasingly tense. Therefore, we selected the urban center of Chongqing (UCC) as a study area, because this area is the economic and cultural center of the whole Chongqing. We analyzed the spatial evolution characteristics of LUCs and potential risk in the past 20 years in the UCC from the perspective of the PLES. Our study expanded the research perspective of LUCs identification, and provided a reference for those regions in the world whose development orientation is "ecological priority and green development". So that urban managers and policymakers may be better informed when developing pertinent land use policies and strategies at different levels. It’s helpful to relieve the level of LUCs in the rapid urbanization area, promote optimized land spatial patterns, the rational use of land resources, and the coordinated development of man-land relations in the world [11]. Our aim includes the following three objectives.

(1) Based on the LER assessment method to construct the evaluation model of LUCs from the PLES perspective;

(2) To identify the LUCs zones and diagnosis the conflict intensity;

and

(3) To construct a land-use conflicts risk index to explore the potential LUCs.”

Point 4: Material and Methods

• Could you please provide the reference of table 1?
• Section 2.3.2: the title may be changed to “Dynamics of land-use change”

Response 4: Thanks for your suggestions. We have changed the title of the “section 2.3.2” to “Dynamics of land-use change”. And the references of table 1 are below:

 

[35] Li L, Wen D, Juan C, etc. Analysis of spatial conflict of "production-life-ecological" in the process of rapid urbanization in Pingtan island. Science of Resources, 2017, 39 (10): 1823-1833.

[36] Hong Z, Xu Erqi, Hui Z. Classification and spatial pattern of " ‘production-life-ecological’ land use" in China. Journal of Resource Sciences, 2015, 37 (07): 1332-1338.

 Point 5: Result • Figure and table titles are misplaced in this section. Please place the title and figures in the appropriate places.

Response 5: Thanks for your suggestions. According to your comments, we have placed the title and figures in the appropriate places.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 4 Report

The authors addressed all of my comments

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thanks for your work on my paper.

Best wishes!

 

Yours,

Tian Liang