Visual Impact Assessment in Rural Areas: The Role of Vegetation Screening in the Sustainable Integration of Isolated Buildings

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

After review of the manuscript “Visual impact assessment in rural areas: the role of vegetation screening in sustainable integration of isolated buildings” I would like to congratulate you and your team for doing such a good research work in your submitted paper for publication in this prestigious journal. Topic is very interesting and I liked the topic and I personally like to appreciate your efforts to present your research work in such a nice manner. But before your work will be recommended or will be given any possible acceptance few comments must be incorporated for improving the quality of your work as well as for further publication in this reputed journal. I have the following minör observations or queries and comments which may further enhance your piece of work. The authors require to modify the following points in detail.

1. The introduction part is required to add few more sentences to increase the strength of this article and kindly bring in the research problem, objective, novelty and explain it in last paragraph of the section of Introduction.

3. Add few more sentences in the very beginning of introduction explaining about your paper’s contribution or attempts for dealing or presenting solutions for a specific problem/s and your special contribution with this research paper.

4. Literature review part is very weak kindly revise it.

 

 

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam,

First, we want to thank you for your review as well as for the comments received. Without a doubt, they have helped us to improve our work. In this regard, in the attached file you can find the improvements introduced in response to your comments.

Best regards,

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

[Land] Manuscript ID: land-1860294 – Reviewer Comments:

Aims and contributions:

The broad aim of the paper is to provide home builders including designers, architects and engineers with quantifiable design variables based on the use of vegetation as a design element in rural perspectives. Specifically, the objectives of the study are to evaluate the visual impact, and to determine the colour of buildings as related to the built area. This study can contribute immensely to the construction of sustainable buildings, and it can help landscape planners, home builders and policymakers to make crucial informed decisions about design of buildings in rural regions.

Abstract:

Line 5: The authors can rewrite this sentence – “rural tourism has caused an increase of buildings which has meant visual integration was not always achieved”; the sentence is not explicit enough.

The authors might consider this revision: “rural tourism has caused an increase of buildings which implies that visual integration is not always achieved”.

Introduction:

Line 48: 1.3 subheading – correct the word “buildins”.

Materials and methods:

Line 145: (please confirm you wanted to write “Photoshop © or CC”? if not delete and correct the sign “©”.

Line 169: Figure 1: The authors should try to redo the diagram and make the histogram and the numbers clearer.

Line 212: The authors should create and insert a Map of Study Area.

Line 286: correct the word “show” to “shown”.

Line 351: Delete “in” - repetition (the second to the last word in the sentence)

Strength and weakness:

The materials and methods, results, and discussions were properly highlighted and explained. However, to enrich the conclusion, I suggest that the authors should include a short paragraph into the conclusion section explaining the “concept of policy recommendations and sustainable environment” as related to this study.

References:

Line 555-644: The authors should properly follow the guidelines for listing of references (italicized the name of journal; darkened the year of journal). Please revise this section.

To properly list your references, read the MDPI Reference List and Citations Style Guide from the Website: https://www.mdpi.com/authors/references

Examples:

Journal:

Acosta, F.; Haroon, S. Memorial Parking Trees: Resilient Modular Design with Nature-Based Solutions in Vulnerable Urban Areas. Land 2021, 10, 298.

Ma, S.; Wang, H.Y.; Zhang, X.; Wang, L.J.; Jiang, J. A nature-based solution in forest management to improve ecosystem services and mitigate their trade-offs. J. Clean. Prod. 2022, 351, 131557.

Book:

Powers, K.; Hairston-Strang, A.; Koehn, S.; Jolly, K. Forest Plans of North America; Academic Press: Salt Lake City, UT, USA, 2015; pp. 139–148.

Other publication:

MacKinnon, K.; Sobrevila, C.; Hickey, V. Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Adaptation: Nature-Based Solutions from the World Bank Portfolio; World Bank: Washington, DC, USA, 2008.

 

 

 

 

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam,

First, we want to thank you for your review as well as for the comments received. Without a doubt, they have helped us to improve our work. In this regard, in the attached file you can find the improvements introduced in response to your comments.

Best regards,

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This is a worthwhile addition to the studies previously reported by this group of researchers. The question addressed is valid and the broad conclusions are supported by the experimental work.

I do however look for substantial revision to improve:

- the use of 'technical' terms

- the misuse of certain concepts

- the English expression

My specific concerns are detailed in the attached file.

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam,

First, we want to thank you for your review as well as for the comments received. Without a doubt, they have helped us to improve our work. In this regard, in the attached file you can find the improvements introduced in response to your comments.

Best regards,

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf