Coupling Coordination and Spatiotemporal Analysis of Urban Compactness and Land-Use Efficiency in Resource-Based Areas: A Case Study of Shanxi Province, China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
A study was conducted to investigate the urban compactness and landuse efficiency in resource based cities in Shanxi. The authors have proposed a novel method to evaluate the trend of urban compactness and landuse efficiency across three time periods of 2010, 2015 and 2020. Suggestions were given on how future urban planning practices should be implemented. However, there are various key concerns for this study especially in the methodology part. There is also a need to revise the labels for all the figures and tables in the manuscript.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Minor editing of language needed. The use of abbreviation should be at minimal where necessary and should be introduced first before the use.
Author Response
Please refer to the attachment.Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The article addresses an important research topic and the presentation of the results is not very objectionable. The conclusions are interesting. My most serious reservation relates to the 2020 time cross-section, which included the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. At no point do the authors address whether and how the pandemic may have affected the values of sub-indicators and data recording, as no small part of them is susceptible to such a factor. For example, investment, GDP or transport.
In addition, I have a few other comments that come up as I read the text:
1. Line 115-117. some citation for this statement is missing.
2. Line 141-143: a more thorough explanation would be useful.
3. Section 2.2.1. I understand that much of the methodology presented is arbitrary and proprietary. Including in particular the assignment of weights to indicators. This needs to be written explicitly.
4. Section 2.2.2. Note as above.
5. Line 277-279. Shouldn't this section be in the "Methods" section?
6. Figures 2 and 4. Readability needs to be improved.
7. The "Discussion" section should be enriched with a comparison of the results with other studies on this topic, including abroad. At present, it is only a more advanced presentation of the results.
8. The 'Conclusions' section should contain more cognitive and applied conclusions and less typically methodological ones. Terms like "The government needs to invest time, finance, and technology to improve the coordinated development of the dual structure of cities and mines. By gradually improving the negative factors that coal mining brings to cities and strengthening the radiating and driving effect of on-coal mining areas, we can jointly promote the high-quality and sustainable development of resource-based areas" are too vague.
The article is comprehensible, perhaps written in too hermetic a language in some places (GIS terminology) .
Author Response
Response : We would like to show our appreciation to you for giving us so many valuable comments on this article. These opinions are very helpful for improving our research. The texts in response to your opinions are marked in red. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic you mentioned is really an important issue. In order to avoid the influence of other objective factors on the object of study as well as on the research questions. At the same time, in order to reflect the impact of coal resources on the space and land use of the city that we want to study, the data selected for this study are the data counted in the times of 2010, 2015 and 2020, and therefore are representative of the actual situation in the previous year. For example, the content of Shanxi Province Statistical Yearbook 2020 is the data of 2019. But this issue you mention certainly has an impact on the data, and we will take this into account when we look at longer time-span analyses at a later stage.
Point 1: Line 115-117. some citation for this statement is missing.
Response 1: Thank you for your valuable feedback. In order to better understand the basic situation of Shanxi Province, we have included relevant references to demonstrate the reliability of the data.
46.Yang, Z.; Zhan, J.Y.; Wang, C.; Twumasi-Ankrah, M.J. Coupling coordination analysis and spatiotemporal heterogeneity between sustainable development and ecosystem services in Shanxi Province, China. Science of the Total Environment 2022, 836, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155625.
- Ge, X.J.; Liu, X.X. Urban Land Use Efficiency under Resource-Based Economic Transformation-A Case Study of Shanxi Province. Land 2021, 10, doi:10.3390/land10080850.
Point 2: Line 141-143: a more thorough explanation would be useful.
Response 2: Thank you for your valuable question. In order to illustrate the sources of our data selection and the associated challenges, we explained which cities' data were missing, please refer Line 148-149.
“It is mainly concentrated in county-level cities such as Xingxian, Loufan, Wanrong and Huguan.”
Point 3: Section 2.2.1. I understand that much of the methodology presented is arbitrary and proprietary. Including in particular the assignment of weights to indicators. This needs to be written explicitly.
Response 3: Your suggestion is very enlightening to us. The selection of UC measurement methods is based on the research findings of numerous scholars regarding urban compactness and conclusions drawn from various aspects, including the characteristics of resource-based cities. This summary can be referred to in lines 50-67, and specific references are provided below. As for the determination of weights, we have supplemented the weights obtained from the Entropy and CRITIC methods, which can be found in Table 1.
Wang, Y.Y.; Liu, Y.J.; Zhou, G.L.; Ma, Z.P.; Sun, H.R.; Fu, H. Coordinated Relationship between Compactness and Land-Use Efficiency in Shrinking Cities: A Case Study of Northeast China. Land 2022, 11, doi:10.3390/land11030366.
Zhao, F.; Tang, L.; Qiu, Q.; Wu, G. The compactness of spatial structure in Chinese cities: measurement, clustering patterns and influencing factors. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability 2020, 6, doi:10.1080/20964129.2020.1743763.
Kwon, D.; Oh, S.E.S.; Choi, S.; Kim, B.H.S. Viability of compact cities in the post-COVID-19 era: subway ridership variations in Seoul Korea. Annals of Regional Science 2022, doi:10.1007/s00168-022-01119-9.
Point 4: Section 2.2.2. Note as above.
Response 4: Thank you for your careful review. The selection of ULUE measurement methods is based on the research findings of numerous scholars regarding ULUE and conclusions drawn from various aspects, including the characteristics of resource-based cities. This summary can be referred to in lines 69-89, and specific references are provided below.
He, S.W.; Yu, S.; Li, G.D.; Zhang, J.F. Exploring the influence of urban form on land-use efficiency from a spatiotemporal heterogeneity perspective: Evidence from 336 Chinese cities. Land Use Policy 2020, 95, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104576.
Xie, X.; Fang, B.; Xu, H.Z.Y.; He, S.S.; Li, X. Study on the coordinated relationship between Urban Land use efficiency and ecosystem health in China. Land Use Policy 2021, 102, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105235.
Yu, J.Q.; Zhou, K.L.; Yang, S.L. Land use efficiency and influencing factors of urban agglomerations in China. Land Use Policy 2019, 88, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104143.
Liao, X.; Fang, C.L.; Shu, T.H.; Ren, Y.T. Spatiotemporal impacts of urban structure upon urban land-use efficiency: Evidence from 280 cities in China. Habitat International 2023, 131, doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2022.102727.
Ling, L.S.; Chen, X.Y.; Wu, Y.C.; Li, S.W.; Wei, J.J.; Zhou, Q. National Modern Agricultural Industrial Parks: Development Characteristics, Regional Differences, and Experience Inspiration-Case Study of 200 NMAIPs in China. Agronomy-Basel 2023, 13, doi:10.3390/agronomy13030653.
Song, Y.; Yeung, G.; Zhu, D.; Xu, Y.; Zhang, L. Efficiency of urban land use in China's resource-based cities, 2000-2018. Land Use Policy 2022, 115, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106009.
Xiao, Y.; Zhong, J.-L.; Zhang, Q.-F.; Xiang, X.; Huang, H. Exploring the coupling coordination and key factors between urbanization and land use efficiency in ecologically sensitive areas: A case study of the Loess Plateau, China. Sustainable Cities and Society 2022, 86, doi:10.1016/j.scs.2022.104148.
Point 5: Line 277-279. Shouldn't this section be in the "Methods" section?
Response 5: Your suggestion is very enlightening to us. As you mentioned, it is indeed necessary to introduce the distinction of cities in the methods section. Please refer Line 201-204.
Point 6: Figures 2 and 4. Readability needs to be improved.
Response 6: Thank you for your valuable question. As shown in Figure 2, it consists of two parts. The left side represents the measurement results of UC for coal and non-coal. Due to the large number of cities, it's not possible to label all city names on the graph, hence a bar chart is used for representation. The right side's Box-plot illustrates the simultaneous comparison between coal and non-coal during the same period, primarily covering maximum, minimum, mean, median, and standard deviation values. Figure 4 information was incomplete we replaced it.
Point 7: The "Discussion" section should be enriched with a comparison of the results with other studies on this topic, including abroad. At present, it is only a more advanced presentation of the results.
Response 7: Considering the Reviewer's valuable and enlightening suggestion, We have added your comments to the “Discussion “, please refer Line 519-529.
“Based on the current research on UC, ULUE, and the CCD between the two, the over-all UC and ULUE levels in Shanxi Province are relatively lagging behind in China. Despite the existence of numerous coal resource-based cities in China, Shanxi Province remains at a relatively lower level compared to the eastern Huang-Huai region, northeastern region, Shaanxi Province, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. This is directly related to the wide coverage of resources and the dominant position of the secondary industry. At pre-sent, there is relatively limited research on UC and ULUE in resource-based cities. How-ever, based on relevant studies, cities with higher ULUE levels are generally concentrated in economically developed areas with a reasonable industrial structure and relatively concentrated population, while smaller towns and remote areas tend to have lower ULUE. Similarly[61-63], UC also exhibits similar patterns in the aforementioned cities[64-66].”
Point 8: The 'Conclusions' section should contain more cognitive and applied conclusions and less typically methodological ones. Terms like "The government needs to invest time, finance, and technology to improve the coordinated development of the dual structure of cities and mines. By gradually improving the negative factors that coal mining brings to cities and strengthening the radiating and driving effect of on-coal mining areas, we can jointly promote the high-quality and sustainable development of resource-based areas" are too vague.
Response 8: Considering the Reviewer's valuable and enlightening suggestion, We have added your comments to the “Conclusions “, please refer Line 619-658.
“Therefore, under the context of China vigorously promoting the development of new urbanization, compact urban construction, as an effective means to address land use is-sues during the urbanization process, plays an indispensable role in comprehensively advancing land use efficiency; meanwhile, the enhancement of land use efficiency also provides an intensive and rational land space for compact urban development, and the coordinated development of both will better support urban construction. However, the current Compactness of Cities (UC) and Urban Land Use Efficiency (ULUE) Coordination and Control Degrees (CCD) in most cities still need improvement. Based on the relevant research of this article, the following recommendations are proposed:
(1) Scientific planning guidance and optimized land use layout. By adjusting the ur-ban land use structure, developing high-density mixed-use areas, increasing the degree of mixed-use, and achieving smart growth. This avoids blind expansion, utilizes land exten-sively, and meets the economic development needs of the region.
（2）Promoting industrial structural adjustment and renewal. For non-coal re-source-based cities, the development of modern service industries and high-tech indus-tries should be vigorously pursued. For coal resource-based cities, industrial transfor-mation should be deepened; mature resource-based cities should adjust their production and employment structures appropriately, strengthen the upstream and downstream in-dustries of the coal industry; resource-exhausted cities should break free from the influ-ence of the coal industry, accelerate the development of emerging industries, and gradu-ally achieve synchronized and coordinated development of efficient land use and com-pact cities.
（3）Strengthening regional coordinated development. Currently, there are significant differences in economic compactness among different regions and cities of different scales, showing a decreasing trend from east to west and with city scale, policies should be pro-vided to support the economic development of economically developed urban areas, and economic, environmental, and social costs of urban development should be reduced.
（4）In the process of compact urban construction and enhancing land use efficiency, the lack of coordinated development between the two will not only affect urban develop-ment but also lead to decreased residents' quality of life and happiness. For different cities, blindly pursuing unlimited improvement in the coordination between the two and con-tinuously increasing urban compactness will only result in excessive resource waste. Ac-tual city needs should be considered, and different development policies should be for-mulated.
Moreover, it should be stated that this study has some shortcomings.The research content only covers the temporal and spatial differences and changing characteristics of UC and ULUE, along with their coupling coordination types. However, it has not yet delved into the analysis of influencing factors and more complex coupling mechanisms. Therefore, in future research, a more in-depth exploration of the interactive relationship between UC and ULUE is required.”
We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper.
We appreciate for Reviewer's warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.
Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Land-2539877_06AUG2023
Review: Coupling coordination and spatiotemporal analysis between urban compactness and land use efficiency of resource-based areas: A case study of the Shanxi Province, China
First, I would like to express my congratulations for touching on an issue, namely the development of an evaluation model of the coupling coordination level of urban compactness and land use efficiency at different scales from the perspective of urban space and land use problems in specific resource-based areas. The manuscript is also interesting for a reader because of the successful discussion of proper to study practical achievements. The authors demonstrate a range of literature that underlines the importance of the topic based on previous studies. It is noteworthy authors’ representation of study results, also in conclusion (Section 6). Thus, I believe that this could be a pertinent, valuable and even necessary paper. However, it is also evident from the study that it is very important to understand that resource-based cities have long evolution of urban spatial structures and land use attributes that cannot be effectively improved quickly, as well as, that intensive and compact urban development is an important driving force for efficient land use and focus on mutual coordination.
The quality of the manuscript is high enough. However, it is advised to consider the following:
1. The numeration of tables is not correct.
2. The Sub-section 2.2.2. should be improved by (1) clarifying “LUE index system” or “LUE evaluation index system” (see lines 173 and 192), (2) adding more references to previous related achievements (see lines 173-193, or else is the proposed system unique?), (3) explaining, what could the “optimization of efficiency” look like? (see lines 180-182).
3. Indicate references to relevant studies in the methodology (Section 3); Shao et al., 2020 cannot be identified in the reference list.
4. Conclusions (Section 6) should include more specific suggestions (see the last paragraph), as well as this section should respond to the set objectives of the study and indicate recommended further research and discussions based on the achieved results of the study.
In view of all the above-mentioned, I recommend to the editors that MINOR REVISION is addressed before accepting the paper for publishing.
Wishing you the best of luck with your research, and thanking you again for conducting this interesting discussion.
With best regards
The reviewer
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 3 Comments
Comments and Suggestions for Authors: First, I would like to express my congratulations for touching on an issue, namely the development of an evaluation model of the coupling coordination level of urban compactness and land use efficiency at different scales from the perspective of urban space and land use problems in specific resource-based areas. The manuscript is also interesting for a reader because of the successful discussion of proper to study practical achievements. The authors demonstrate a range of literature that underlines the importance of the topic based on previous studies. It is noteworthy authors’ representation of study results, also in conclusion (Section 6). Thus, I believe that this could be a pertinent, valuable and even necessary paper. However, it is also evident from the study that it is very important to understand that resource-based cities have long evolution of urban spatial structures and land use attributes that cannot be effectively improved quickly, as well as, that intensive and compact urban development is an important driving force for efficient land use and focus on mutual coordination.
The quality of the manuscript is high enough. However, it is advised to consider the following:
Response : We would like to show our appreciation to you for giving us so many valuable comments on this article. These opinions are very helpful for improving our research. The texts in response to your opinions are marked in red.
Point 1: The numeration of tables is not correct.
Response 1: Thank you for thoroughly reviewing our manuscript. We have addressed and revised the concerns you raised during the review process.
Point 2: The Sub-section 2.2.2. should be improved by (1) clarifying “LUE index system” or “LUE evaluation index system” (see lines 173 and 192), (2) adding more references to previous related achievements (see lines 173-193, or else is the proposed system unique?), (3) explaining, what could the “optimization of efficiency” look like? (see lines 180-182).
Response 2: We appreciate you very much for pointing out the problem and we have made the following response to the problem. (1)The metrics involved in these two lines are in fact always the same, and our aim is to evaluate ULUE by selecting the index.(2) We have added relevant references to support our rationale for the selection of the ULUE index based on your comments, which are listed below.(3) We believe that improving the urban land use efficiency in resource-based regions can provide a fundamental guarantee for specific areas and promote the coordinated development of China's regional economy. In the critical period of new urbanization construction, economic development requires improving its quality and speed. The inefficient and extensive land use pattern urgently needs to be changed, enhancing urban land use efficiency, and exploring endogenous development paths. This holds significant importance for addressing the "human-land contradiction" and achieving high-quality economic and social development in China. It can be understood as the process of inputting factors like population and capital into the land within municipal areas, undergoing a series of socio-economic activities to obtain optimal economic, social, and environmental value outputs from the land while causing minimal environmental pollution. This is manifested concretely through controlling the total amount of urban land, increasing land development intensity, establishing a sound mechanism for land development and protection, revitalizing underutilized land, and advancing scientific and technological aspects of land use.
Xue, D.; Yue, L.; Ahmad, F.; Draz, M.U.; Chandio, A.A.; Ahmad, M.; Amin, W. Empirical investigation of urban land use efficiency and influencing factors of the Yellow River basin Chinese cities. Land Use Policy 2022, 117, doi:ARTN 106117
Huang, K.Y.; Chang, T.H.; Chiu, Y.H.; Yang, C.Y.; Lin, T.Y. Considering climate change and regional differences: An efficiency assessment of coal mine use and land restoration. Natural Resources Forum 2023, 47, 578-601, doi:10.1111/1477-8947.12278.
Pang, Y.Y.; Wang, X.J. Land-Use Efficiency in Shandong (China): Empirical Analysis Based on a Super-SBM Model. Sustainability 2020, 12, doi:10.3390/su122410618.
Cui, X.H.; Lin, M.Y.; Qiu, Y. Regional differences and dynamic evolution of urban land green use efficiency within the Yangtze river economic belt, China. Frontiers in Environmental Science 2023, 10, doi:10.3389/fenvs.2022.1098924.
Point 3: Indicate references to relevant studies in the methodology (Section 3); Shao et al., 2020 cannot be identified in the reference list.
Response 3: Thank you for thoroughly reviewing our manuscript. We have added relevant references.
Cai, B.W.; Shao, Z.F.; Fang, S.H.; Huang, X. Quantifying Dynamic Coupling Coordination Degree of Human-Environmental Interactions during Urban-Rural Land Transitions of China. Land 2022, 11, doi:10.3390/land11060935.
Point 4: Conclusions (Section 6) should include more specific suggestions (see the last paragraph), as well as this section should respond to the set objectives of the study and indicate recommended further research and discussions based on the achieved results of the study.
Response 4: Considering the Reviewer's valuable and enlightening suggestion, We have added your comments to the “Conclusions “, please refer Line 619-658.
“Therefore, under the context of China vigorously promoting the development of new urbanization, compact urban construction, as an effective means to address land use is-sues during the urbanization process, plays an indispensable role in comprehensively advancing land use efficiency; meanwhile, the enhancement of land use efficiency also provides an intensive and rational land space for compact urban development, and the coordinated development of both will better support urban construction. However, the current Compactness of Cities (UC) and Urban Land Use Efficiency (ULUE) Coordination and Control Degrees (CCD) in most cities still need improvement. Based on the relevant research of this article, the following recommendations are proposed:
(1) Scientific planning guidance and optimized land use layout. By adjusting the ur-ban land use structure, developing high-density mixed-use areas, increasing the degree of mixed-use, and achieving smart growth. This avoids blind expansion, utilizes land exten-sively, and meets the economic development needs of the region.
（2）Promoting industrial structural adjustment and renewal. For non-coal re-source-based cities, the development of modern service industries and high-tech indus-tries should be vigorously pursued. For coal resource-based cities, industrial transfor-mation should be deepened; mature resource-based cities should adjust their production and employment structures appropriately, strengthen the upstream and downstream in-dustries of the coal industry; resource-exhausted cities should break free from the influ-ence of the coal industry, accelerate the development of emerging industries, and gradu-ally achieve synchronized and coordinated development of efficient land use and com-pact cities.
（3）Strengthening regional coordinated development. Currently, there are significant differences in economic compactness among different regions and cities of different scales, showing a decreasing trend from east to west and with city scale, policies should be pro-vided to support the economic development of economically developed urban areas, and economic, environmental, and social costs of urban development should be reduced.
（4）In the process of compact urban construction and enhancing land use efficiency, the lack of coordinated development between the two will not only affect urban develop-ment but also lead to decreased residents' quality of life and happiness. For different cities, blindly pursuing unlimited improvement in the coordination between the two and con-tinuously increasing urban compactness will only result in excessive resource waste. Ac-tual city needs should be considered, and different development policies should be for-mulated.
Moreover, it should be stated that this study has some shortcomings.The research content only covers the temporal and spatial differences and changing characteristics of UC and ULUE, along with their coupling coordination types. However, it has not yet delved into the analysis of influencing factors and more complex coupling mechanisms. Therefore, in future research, a more in-depth exploration of the interactive relationship between UC and ULUE is required.”
We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper.
We appreciate for Reviewer's warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.
Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
A study was conducted to investigate the influence of cities with coal resources and its urban landuse planning. The findings of the research is important to support sustainable urban planning and more efficient resource allocation. The authors have addressed all the comments from round 1 review. I have no further comments.
Author Response
Comments and Suggestions for Authors: Thank you for your very detailed answers and corrections. The article, in my opinion, meets the quality for publication, but there is one very important issue to improve - actually already technical, but very important. If I understood the answer correctly, the authors answer that the data are from the statistical yearbooks 2010, 2015, 2020, but the data are minus one year (2009, 2014, 2019, Yearbook-1). In that case, this needs to be written clearly. One sentence in the methods is enough, but ALL figures must be corrected (2019 instead of 2020 etc.). In the same way, it MUST be mentioned in the text. I emphasise that this comment does not affect the interpretation and validity of the results, but only correctly locates the data in time. Provided, of course, that I have understood the answer correctly. This is very important.
Response : Thank you for recognizing our work. We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper.We appreciate for Reviewer's warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Thank you for your very detailed answers and corrections. The article, in my opinion, meets the quality for publication, but there is one very important issue to improve - actually already technical, but very important. If I understood the answer correctly, the authors answer that the data are from the statistical yearbooks 2010, 2015, 2020, but the data are minus one year (2009, 2014, 2019, Yearbook-1). In that case, this needs to be written clearly. One sentence in the methods is enough, but ALL figures must be corrected (2019 instead of 2020 etc.). In the same way, it MUST be mentioned in the text. I emphasise that this comment does not affect the interpretation and validity of the results, but only correctly locates the data in time. Provided, of course, that I have understood the answer correctly. This is very important.
no comments
Author Response
Comments and Suggestions for Authors: Thank you for your very detailed answers and corrections. The article, in my opinion, meets the quality for publication, but there is one very important issue to improve - actually already technical, but very important. If I understood the answer correctly, the authors answer that the data are from the statistical yearbooks 2010, 2015, 2020, but the data are minus one year (2009, 2014, 2019, Yearbook-1). In that case, this needs to be written clearly. One sentence in the methods is enough, but ALL figures must be corrected (2019 instead of 2020 etc.). In the same way, it MUST be mentioned in the text. I emphasise that this comment does not affect the interpretation and validity of the results, but only correctly locates the data in time. Provided, of course, that I have understood the answer correctly. This is very important.
Response : Thank you for your valuable feedback. We have added explanatory notes on the selection of the time of the statistical yearbook in the relevant section in response to your suggestion. Please refer to lines 142-144. In the meantime we have changed the year of all the Figures in the paper.
In order to avoid the interference of objective factors on the authenticity of the data of the research object, such as the COVID-19, this study chooses the data before 2020 as the supporting material.
We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper.
We appreciate for Reviewer's warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.
Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
