Exploring the Relationship between Urban Park Greenery at Different Levels and Physical Activity: A Study Using the Hierarchical Linear Model

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper examines the association between urban park features and physical activity. It contributes to the important literature on the intersection between urban amenity (i.e. park) and population health (i.e. physical activity). Generally, I think it is written clearly and the research was carried out meticulously. The manuscript can be improved to better suit this journal. My comments are below.

I agree with the authors that this empirical study focuses on association, not causal relation. In this regard, I suggest to change the title and not mention "... impact of ... on..." which infers causality.

"NDVI" in the abstract needs to be spelled out.

The last line on page 2: to me, these are three research questions, not hypotheses.

Page 3, lines 118-120: Please cite the claim that "a minimum sample size of 30 groups, each containing at least 30 individuals... for estimating regression coefficients." I thought this is more of a common practice, rather than a requirement.

Page 3, 2.1. study sites: I would add information about each park's land area (are they similar in size, or very different?) so that the selection of 10 sample plots in each park is supported (if they are similar in size).

Table 1 and corresponding narrative: Can you please clarify what is the difference between level 1 and level 2? In my understanding level 1 focused on park-level measures, whereas level 1 focuses on sample plot's level measures.

Titles for 4.1 and 4.2 seem to be identical.

In the discussion, I would add a discussion about the potential COVID impact on the findings. Since this data is collected in 2021 when China was under zero-COVID policy, how this special time would affect park use? Do you expect more or less use of urban parks during vs. before/after COVID? Do you expect more/less use across the three parks and perhaps during different season of year / time of day? A discussion of potential COVID effect will help understand the generalizeability of this study's findings.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

1.      Paper is interesting but needs some data and clarity of research.

2.      Topic is original and relevant in the field but the author does not clearly define the aim and objectives.

3.      Author should explain the methodology and results and discussion parts with entire datasets and maps must add in the revised manuscript.

4.      Author should define the finding of the work with the advantages and disadvantages of the study.

5.      Author should check if all references are appropriate.

6.      Author should need to research and add additional tables and figures.

 

7.      Author should add the all maps and explain each and every method adopted by the author and also the model description need.  Advantages and disadvantages must be added before the conclusion section.

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear authors,

Thank you for this interresting article. However, some clarifications and small improvements are needed for the final approval. Please have a look on my comments below:

1. What type of physical activity you are referring to? Does greenery affect equally all the physical activities. If there are similar references please incorporate them into your article.

2. More information are needed regarding the description of the study sites (type of vegetation, density of vegetation, proximity among themselves, etc)

3. Please give some indication of the type of plants

4. Which period the survey was conducted. Please give a time length (e.g. September 2021- September 2022)

5. 4.1. and 4.2. has the same title. Please correct accordingly.

6. Many times you are referring to prior studies, please add your reference (example 335 line)

7. line 120. You are referring to Design plots, could you please mention the differences among them and the criteria of their selection?

8. The conclusions need further enrichment. Could you develop a bit more the added value of this research to policy makers? (see line 352-355)

9. After a final reading, please try to reassure the smooth transition from the results to discussion. For example seasonal effect looks like being the predominent factor. Is this true?

Minor editing on english language will improve the article

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Accepted the article for publication.