The Use of GIS and Multicriteria Techniques for the Socio-Spatial Analysis of Urban Areas in Medium-Sized Spanish Cities

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 

The use of GIS and multicriteria techniques for the socio-spatial analysis of urban areas in medium-sized Spanish cities

 

 

Abstract

 

-       The abstract explains that six variables were utilized and GIS tools were utilized; however, it is important to mention the source of the data briefly.

 

Introduction

 

-       Including additional detailed information before the heading "Introduction" with the title "On the dispersed growth of cities and the delimitation of urban areas at different scales" appears unnecessary. Keep it simple and only mention the Introduction as a heading.

 

-       Line 42: Spelling mistake “rururbanization”.

 

-       Line 81: When citing multiple references in continuity, they can be written in a range using a hyphen to indicate the first and last references and commas to separate non-consecutive references. For example: “The study found similar results in previous research [20, 28-35]. The in-text citation refers to references 20 and references 28 to 35, inclusive, as a single group.

 

-       Line 91:  References [36-38]

 

-       Line 91, 97, 101: When listing points, there is generally no need to use dashes between the numbers or points. Simply numbering the points in order is sufficient.

 

-       Line 100: Reference grouping.

 

-       Line 159: Clarify the reasoning behind using the 20-minute isochrone to define the limit of urban areas for the inner average of 159 cities, as mentioned in your statement.

 

-       To improve the paper's clarity, it would be helpful to divide the Introduction and Literature Review sections into two distinct sections, as the current structure appears disorganized.

 

-       The “Introduction Section” does not clearly state the research question the study aims to address. It would be helpful to state the research question explicitly in this section.

 

-       It is advisable to conclude the introduction section with the subsequent section details.

 

Literature Review

 

-        It seems that the literature review section of the paper lacks sufficient analysis and discussion of the variables used in the research. Could you please provide more details or elaborate on this?

 

Material and Methods

 

-       Additional detail in front of Material and Methods seems unnecessary. Please remove that.

-       Line 186, 194, 200: Improve and use the consistent style of bulleting.

-       It would be useful to make sub-sections in this section to understand better the steps taken to conduct the study.

-       Figure 1: It needs to be improved. Make a better flow chart and explain all the important steps taken for the analysis.

 

Results

 

-       Provide more context and analysis of the results, such as discussing how the results compare to previous studies or how they contribute to understanding the research question.

 

 

Conclusion and Future Work

 

-       Discuss the limitations of the study and potential areas for improvement.

-       Provide practical implications of the study's findings. 

 

Upon examination of the manuscript, it has been identified that multiple areas require attention regarding language proficiency. Specifically, the manuscript contains spelling mistakes, ranging from minor typos to major errors that impact the clarity of the text.

Additionally, grammatical errors, such as incorrect verb tenses, misplaced modifiers, and subject-verb agreement issues, have been noted.

The manuscript also shows sentence structure mistakes, such as run-on sentences, fragments, and awkward phrasing.

All of these issues need to be addressed to enhance the overall quality and coherence of the manuscript.

Author Response

We appreciate your comments and respond to the questions you suggest, which are included in the text.

Abstract

-       The abstract explains that six variables were utilized and GIS tools were utilized; however, it is important to mention the source of the data briefly.

We appreciate the suggestion to include information on the data sources used in the abstract. An explanatory sentence has been added within editorial limits.

Introduction

 -       Including additional detailed information before the heading "Introduction" with the title "On the dispersed growth of cities and the delimitation of urban areas at different scales" appears unnecessary. Keep it simple and only mention the Introduction as a heading.

The suggestion is appreciated. The second part of the introductory title has been removed. Only the word "introduction" now appears.

-       Line 42: Spelling mistake “rururbanization”.

This is a concept commonly used in the literature on urban sprawl in the context of the analysis of urban sprawl processes in the Anglo-Saxon and French spheres since the middle of the last century (see Wehrwein, G, S, 1942: quote number 7 in the text). It has been maintained as explanatory of the processes dealt with in the work.

-       Line 81: When citing multiple references in continuity, they can be written in a range using a hyphen to indicate the first and last references and commas to separate non-consecutive references. For example: “The study found similar results in previous research [20, 28-35]. The in-text citation refers to references 20 and references 28 to 35, inclusive, as a single group.

We are grateful for the appreciation. The text has been modified in line with the suggestion made by the reviewer.

-       Line 91:  References [36-38]

 We are grateful for the appreciation. The text has been modified in line with the suggestion made by the reviewer.

-       Line 91, 97, 101: When listing points, there is generally no need to use dashes between the numbers or points. Simply numbering the points in order is sufficient.

We are grateful for the appreciation. The text has been modified in line with the suggestion made by the reviewer.

-       Line 100: Reference grouping.

We are grateful for the appreciation. The text has been modified in line with the suggestion made by the reviewer.

-       Line 159: Clarify the reasoning behind using the 20-minute isochrone to define the limit of urban areas for the inner average of 159 cities, as mentioned in your statement.

We welcome the suggestion. A paragraph has been included stating the reason for the use of 20 minutes. Lines 170 to 191

-       To improve the paper's clarity, it would be helpful to divide the Introduction and Literature Review sections into two distinct sections, as the current structure appears disorganized.

We have preferred to respect the structure in order to maintain the structure suggested by the journal when preparing the documents.

-       The “Introduction Section” does not clearly state the research question the study aims to address. It would be helpful to state the research question explicitly in this section.

We are grateful for the suggestion. Lines 170 to 176 contain the research questions revolving around the idea of "seeking to resolve some of the imbalances and deficiencies detected in the existing institutional proposals for the delimitation of urban areas. The fundamental reason for this is that they have very heterogeneous territorial scopes, which are particularly critical when applied to medium-sized cities".

-       It is advisable to conclude the introduction section with the subsequent section details.

 We welcome the suggestion. A line explaining the subsequent headings has been included at the end of the introductory section.

 Literature Review

 -        It seems that the literature review section of the paper lacks sufficient analysis and discussion of the variables used in the research. Could you please provide more details or elaborate on this?

We are grateful for this suggestion. Unfortunately, the exhaustive review of the literature revealed no further works on the methodology using the same variables, except for those already mentioned in the text.

Material and Methods

 -       Additional detail in front of Material and Methods seems unnecessary. Please remove that.

We are grateful for the appreciation. However, we believe that it is important to indicate to the reader the bases on which the proposed methodology is grounded, especially because this is a text that is aimed at a monographic issue on subjects related to the object of the article. On the other hand, the other reviews received welcome the explanation and even encourage us to expand this section.

-       Line 186, 194, 200: Improve and use the consistent style of bulleting.

-       It would be useful to make sub-sections in this section to understand better the steps taken to conduct the study.

We welcome the suggestion. Subsections have been introduced to establish a more orderly reading of the materials and methods section.

•       Figure 1: It needs to be improved. Make a better flow chart and explain all the important steps taken for the analysis.

We appreciate the suggestion. The reading has been changed to make clearer the different stages used in the methodological process.

Results

-       Provide more context and analysis of the results, such as discussing how the results compare to previous studies or how they contribute to understanding the research question.

The suggestion is appreciated. An explanatory paragraph has been added following the reviewer's suggestions.

 Comments on the Quality of English Language: A new revision of the text has been carried out by a native English speaker to ensure quality

Reviewer 2 Report

The article titled "The use of GIS and multicriteria techniques for the socio-spatial analysis of urban areas in medium-sized Spanish cities" examines the changes in Spanish urban areas that have occurred over the past few decades. These changes have been the result of demographic and urbanizing transformations, which have led to a shift in the city model from compact forms to urban sprawl. This has led to more extensive structures, characterized by fragmentation and a notable consumption of land in the peripheries. The introduction of the article provides a good overview of the changes that have occurred in Spanish urban areas over the past few decades. However, it would be beneficial to expand on these changes and provide more context to the reader. For instance, what were the main drivers of these changes, and what impact have they had on the urban landscape and the lives of citizens? The development of the Urban Transformation Index (ITU) is a crucial aspect of the study. However, the article could provide more information on how this index was developed and validated. It would also be useful to discuss how this index could be used by policymakers and urban planners to inform their decision-making processes. In order to increase the internal validity of the study I am highly suggesting to cite the following articles: Morphological and GIS-based land use Analysis: A Critical Exploration of a Rural Neighborhood, The Role of “Scale” on the Acceleration of Social Interaction in Urban Spaces, Towards Reviving the Missing Noble Characteristics of Traditional Habitual Social Life: “Al-Farej “In Kingdom of Bahrain. Each table and figure must have its figure caption and title. The thesis statement should come at the end of the introduction. The ‘discussion part also needs to develop considering the aim of the article and how the author responds to the hypothesis of the manuscript. The functionality of the methodology and tactics used in the article needs to be discussed. The conclusion needs to restructure, some essential information which supposes to be in the conclusion part is missing. For example, what are the findings to support the hypothesis of the study? how the author(s) described the contribution of their study to the existing literature? etc., the Conclusion of the study could be much more descriptive in the findings that the author (s) mentioned in the discussion part. All the cited references should be directly relevant to the research. seems some of the references don’t have a direct correlation with the text or the reference are not valid. There are some cited references inside the text that doesn’t have a full reference in the “bibliographical” part of the manuscript. Please make sure that all the references have full-cited information at the end of the manuscript in APA style.

Overall, the article provides valuable insights into the changes occurring in Spanish urban areas and the use of GIS and multicriteria techniques to analyze them. However, it would be beneficial to expand on some of the key concepts and provide more detail on the methodology used to analyze the data. 

Author Response

We appreciate your comments and respond to the questions you suggest, which are included in the new text.

[1] what were the main drivers of these changes, and what impact have they had on the urban landscape and the lives of citizens?

A paragraph has been added in lines 73 to 85, which complements the ideas already expressed in lines 85 to 107.

[2].- It would also be useful to discuss how this index could be used by policymakers and urban planners to inform their decision-making processes .-

 The reviewer's appreciation is appreciated. Some references to the application of the ITU in territorial governance, understood as the management of urban areas at supra-municipal level, have been included in the last paragraph of the conclusions section.

[3]. In order to increase the internal validity of the study I am highly suggesting to cite the following articles: Morphological and GIS-based land use Analysis: A Critical Exploration of a Rural Neighborhood, The Role of “Scale” on the Acceleration of Social Interaction in Urban Spaces, Towards Reviving the Missing Noble Characteristics of Traditional Habitual Social Life: “Al-Farej “In Kingdom of Bahrain.

We are grateful for the reviewer's recommendations. We have reviewed the articles suggested. They are methodologically interesting and useful. However, we have chosen not to use them, because in one the subject matter focuses on interactions in urban spaces, which partially distances it from the object of this work. Another refers to a socio-cultural context far removed from the behavior of the territorial sphere of analysis. They will be used for other works in progress.

4.- Each table and figure must have its figure caption and title.

We are grateful for the suggestion. The style guide used by Land magazine has been followed to include the title and footer. They appear at the bottom of each table.

[5] The thesis statement should come at the end of the introduction

We appreciate the appreciation. The thesis, objectives and main hypotheses have been indicated in lines 171 to 178. In addition, a paragraph has been added, at the suggestion of another reviewer, indicating how the index was developed and validated, with reference to previous work (lines 180-192).

 

[6]The ‘discussion part also needs to develop considering the aim of the article and how the author responds to the hypothesis of the manuscript. The functionality of the methodology and tactics used in the article needs to be discussed.

These questions are answered in lines 423-431

[7]conclusion needs to restructure, some essential information which supposes to be in the conclusion part is missing. For example, what are the findings to support the hypothesis of the study? how the author(s) described the contribution of their study to the existing literature? etc., the Conclusion of the study could be much more descriptive in the findings that the author (s) mentioned in the discussion part

We are grateful for the comments made on the conclusions. In this case, we have preferred to keep them in their current structure in view of the positive reading by other reviewers.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thanks for sending the revised version of the manuscript. While the manuscript has improved considerably, some minor issues must be addressed.

1) It is customary to separate two references with a comma, e.g. [5,6], and use a dash for more than two references, e.g. [5-7]. Verify the journal requirements for the appropriate reference style.

2) In the Material and Methods section, it is unnecessary to write "urban footprint measurement" before it.

3) Figure 1 is a significant improvement; however, the graphics are poor quality. Please make it high-definition and correct the spelling mistakes in the figure. Also, remove the redlines highlighting the words in the figure.

4) Usually, the table number is mentioned above the table; please check the journal requirements regarding this.

Author Response

Thanks for sending the revised version of the manuscript. While the manuscript has improved considerably, some minor issues must be addressed.

1).- It is customary to separate two references with a comma, e.g. [5,6], and use a dash for more than two references, e.g. [5-7]. Verify the journal requirements for the appropriate reference style.

Dear reviewer. Thank you very much for your appreciation. We have reviewed and corrected the references, separating them by commas in the cases where the situation you have indicated occurs. Done.

2).- In the Material and Methods section, se ha eliminado del epígrafe la siguiente expression: "urban footprint measurement" before it.

Dear reviewer. Thank you very much for your appreciation. We have revised and corrected the title of the heading and the following expression has been removed from the heading: "urban footprint measurement" before it. Done.

3).- Figure 1 is a significant improvement; however, the graphics are poor quality. Please make it high-definition and correct the spelling mistakes in the figure. Also, remove the redlines highlighting the words in the figure.

The high quality figure has been submitted to the publishers for text replacement. Done.

4).- Usually, the table number is mentioned above the table; please check the journal requirements regarding this.

Dear reviewer. Thank you very much for your appreciation. We have reviewed the editorial guidelines. It is not clear in the template where the numbering and title of the figures should be placed. When checking in several articles, apparently the suggested position is at the bottom. However, we await the editors' indications as to whether they should be placed above or below the figure, table or map.

Reviewer 2 Report

Despite the previous revision, it appears that the article requires another round of revisions. It is crucial to emphasize that the authors should carefully consider each comment provided and make necessary adjustments in both the abstract and body of the text accordingly. The following revisions are required to be taken into account for the second round:

- It will be more descriptive if the author(s) present the relationship between " multi-criteria techniques" with “socio-spatial analysis” by triangulations of the main keywords to highlight the importance of the study. There should be a justifiable discussion in the literature part of the study to develop the interrelation. The reason is that I still didn't get the main gap in the study. The relevance of the research problem for the discipline should be highlighted. Why this research is important and how urban planners can get benefit from the findings of this study need to be highlighted.   

-Contribution to academia needs to be highlighted in the abstract, introduction and conclusion part of the study. The contribution of the study needs to be explained in such a way that to increase the originality of the study.

- Introduction steel doesn’t have any scientific structure to highlight the problem of the study or the gap in the literature. The introduction of the manuscript is not well-organized author may use the strategy of “ big umbrella” to focus on the main problem of the manuscript.  

- This study needs to be enriched by cited up-to-date references relevant to the research.

-References are not suitable for publication in such a prestigius journal. I couldn't find any international high quality artice in the bibliographical part.

 

- It would be great to work more on the methodology part to be easily understandable for the readers. Maybe a graphical presentation will help readers to follow the research easily. You may refer to qualitative, systematic reviews or any other methods that are suitable for the research, so it needs some explanation, consider mentioning methods techniques and tactics of the research under a big umbrella. 

 

Author Response

Despite the previous revision, it appears that the article requires another round of revisions. It is crucial to emphasize that the authors should carefully consider each comment provided and make necessary adjustments in both the abstract and body of the text accordingly. The following revisions are required to be taken into account for the second round:

- It will be more descriptive if the author(s) present the relationship between " multi-criteria techniques" with “socio-spatial analysis” by triangulations of the main keywords to highlight the importance of the study. There should be a justifiable discussion in the literature part of the study to develop the interrelation. The reason is that I still didn't get the main gap in the study. The relevance of the research problem for the discipline should be highlighted. Why this research is important and how urban planners can get benefit from the findings of this study need to be highlighted.   

1).- We are grateful for the suggestion. We believe that lines 192 to 201 adequately reflect the ideas suggested, and that they synthesise the triangulation between the ideas of multi-criteria analysis and socio-spatial analysis. A synthetic methodology is proposed that uses multivariate analysis and GIS tools to define urban areas. The analysis criteria are based on the most recent demographic and urbanisation dynamics. It is approached from three different and complementary dimensions: the extent of suburbanisation (definition of the urban area), the intensity (the unequal impact within the urban area) and the territorial gradation of the processes (differentiation of the most and least affected municipalities within the urban area). To resolve these issues, a synthetic indicator was generated from six variables grouped into three criteria. The following section presents the methodological proposal to address and respond to this problem and the results obtained from the application of the TIU to a group of medium-sized cities in the interior of the country. The conclusions accompany the importance of the methodology for urban planners in this socio-cultural context.

-Contribution to academia needs to be highlighted in the abstract, introduction and conclusion part of the study. The contribution of the study needs to be explained in such a way that to increase the originality of the study.

2).- The first review by the evaluator states that "The introduction to the article provides a good overview of the changes that have taken place in Spanish urban areas in recent decades. However, it would be beneficial to expand on these changes and provide more context for the reader. For example, what have been the main drivers of these changes and what impact have they had on the urban landscape and the lives of citizens?" This has been responded to by adding an explanatory paragraph -lines 192 to 201-.

- Introduction steel doesn’t have any scientific structure to highlight the problem of the study or the gap in the literature. The introduction of the manuscript is not well-organized author may use the strategy of “ big umbrella” to focus on the main problem of the manuscript.

3).- The first assessment indicated that “The introduction of the article provides a good overview of the changes that have occurred in Spanish urban areas over the past few decades. However, it would be beneficial to expand on these changes and provide more context to the reader. For instance, what were the main drivers of these changes, and what impact have they had on the urban landscape and the lives of citizens?” These are listed in the section on 1.1. The processes of urban dispersion in Spain, and the specific situation of what has happened in the area of medium-sized cities. Unfortunately, the limitations imposed by the editors prevent us from going further into the subject. Bibliography is indicated to help to go deeper into the subject.

- This study needs to be enriched by cited up-to-date references relevant to the research.

4).- Within the scope of the bibliographical review, updated references have been used, focusing on urban sprawl processes, delimitation of urban areas and criteria for their definition. Half of the 57 references used are from the last five years, which proves that they are mostly recent. The rest are important, both for the subject matter they deal with and for the meaning and conceptual importance included. We consider the international articles to be of high quality and sufficiently relevant (see references 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 47). Some examples are given of international authors of recognised prestige in the analysis of urban sprawl processes, in the socio-cultural context in which the evaluated work is included, with numerous citations in Google scholar.

Dembski, S.; Sykes, O.; Couch, X.; Desjardins, X.; Evers, D.; Osterhage, F.; Siedentop, S.; Zimmermann, K (2019)-cited 45 times in google scholar-, Phelps, N.A (2010)-cited 89 times in Google scholar-, Pahl, R. E. (2013) -cited 25 times in google scholar-, Squires, G.D. (2002)-cited 548 times in google scholar-, Daniels, P.; Bradshaw, M.; Shaw, D.; Sidaway, D (2011) -cited 108 times in google scholar-, Colantoni, A., Grigoriadis, E., Sateriano, A.; Venanzoni, G.; Salvati, L. (2016), Bowler, I. (2001), Galster, G.; Hanson, R.; Ratcliffe, M.; Freihage, J. (2001) -cited 2050 times in Google scholar-, Qviström, M. (2007), Brenner, N. Schmid, C. (2007), Brenner, N.; Schmid, C. (2015), Halfacree, K. (2006), Azose, J. J.; Ševčíková, H.; Raftery, A. (2016), Salvati, L.; Gargiulo, V.; Rontos, K.; Sabbi, A. (2013)...

Those that focus on Spanish aspects are relevant and necessary to our understanding, as it is necessary to present the context and the previous analyses carried out on the subject. Both the international and the national ones are supported by the socio-cultural context in which the article is set.

-References are not suitable for publication in such a prestigius journal. I couldn't find any international high quality artice in the bibliographical part.

5).- Within the scope of the literature review, up-to-date references have been used. Half of the 57 references used are from the last five years, which proves that they are mostly recent. The rest are important, both in terms of the subject matter they deal with and the conceptual significance and importance included. We consider the international articles to be of high quality and sufficiently relevant (see references 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 47), reproduced in high-impact publications published in English and mainly for the European and North American context. Those that focus on Spanish aspects are relevant and necessary to our understanding, as it is obligatory to present the context and previous analyses carried out on the subject. Both the international and the national ones are based on the socio-cultural context in which the article is set.

We consider the articles in the bibliography to be of high quality, which are also published in journals of high quality and editorial impact. The list of journals used and some impact factor indicators is attached, such as the most relevant databases used: Progress in Planning (Impact factor: Scopus), Cities (Impact factor: Scopus), Reading in Urban Sociology, Science of the Total Environment, Housing Policy Debate, Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography (Impact factor: JCR), Progress in Human Geography (Impact factor: Scopus), Revista Eure (Impact factor: JCR), Urban Research and Practice, Scripta Nova (Impact factor:JCR), Boletin de la Asociacion de Geógrafos Españoles (Impact factor:JCR), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Landscape and Urban Planning, European Planning Studies, Journal of Regional Research. These are, therefore, in most cases journals indexed in JCR, WOS or Scopus, with a high level of impact in the European and North American context.

In order to increase the internal validity of the study I am highly suggesting to cite the following articles: Morphological and GIS-based land use Analysis: A Critical Exploration of a Rural Neighborhood, 2018 (oluwagbemiga Paul Agboola, Mohdhisyamrasidi, Ismail Said, Samson Olutayo Abogan and Adebambo Stephen Adejuwon) - has 4 citations on goolge scholar-. The Role of "Scale" on the Acceleration of Social Interaction in Urban Spaces, Towards Reviving the Missing Noble Characteristics of Traditional Habitual Social Life: "Al-Farej "In Kingdom of Bahrain (islam H El-Ghonaimy and Mariam Haider Al-Hadda, M.A) (2019) -7 citations in google scholar-Both articles are published in Journal of contemporary urban affairs, indexed in DOAJ (not included in databases such as Scopus, JCR or WOS). The first one focuses on case examples from Nigeria; the second one on Bahrain, both of them for different contexts and processes than the ones analysed here, one of them centred on the use of GIS as a tool and the other one on the use of GIS as a tool. In this case, the article presents a methodological proposal for designing the scope of urban areas, with GIS as a support tool. The other one deals with changes in daily life in the city of Manama, Bahrain. For this reason, it was indicated that it was not understood that they could help to present parallels with medium-sized Spanish cities.

- It would be great to work more on the methodology part to be easily understandable for the readers. Maybe a graphical presentation will help readers to follow the research easily. You may refer to qualitative, systematic reviews or any other methods that are suitable for the research, so it needs some explanation, consider mentioning methods techniques and tactics of the research under a big umbrella. 

6).- Dear reviewer. We deeply appreciate the two rounds of reviews you have conducted. We find the accompanying graph illustrative of the methodological process, especially when taking into account the sources of partica information, the tools used and the methodology followed. The other reviewers have appreciated the explanation of the process.