Urban Expansion and Its Implication to Build Urban Resilience in Regio-Metropolitan Cities of the Amahara Region, Ethiopia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper investigates in Urban expansion and its implication to build urban resilience in Regio-Metropolitan cities of Amahara region, Ethiopia with two cities as Gondar and Bahir Dar demonstration area and finds that major factors that influence to build urban resilience are lack of proper urban planning, lack of basic infrastructure and lack of good governance in both cities and both cities are extremely far behind in implementing urban re silience principles. Hence, the study advocates the community participation in development policy  formulation and implementation for urban resilience. Overall it is reasonable clear and concise menuscript. The introduction is relavant and theory based. The methods for quaantitative analysis are generally appropriate.

Author Response

Responses#1

Dear Reviewer thank you for your constructive comments which helps to improve the quality of the paper. Below are list of responses for your suggestions point by point as much as possible

point 1; we have improved the  arguments and discussion of the findings in order to make it balanced and compelling

Point 2: The conclusion is supported by data in the result and additional secondary references

Reviewer 2 Report

The aim of the research is not well stated. Please complete the introduction by asking a question.

The innovation of the research needs further elaboration.

No new references have been used in the literature review section. Much research has been done on urbanization. Refer to them for the richness of your research. For example:

Kuddus, M. A., Tynan, E., & McBryde, E. (2020). Urbanization: a problem for the rich and the poor?. Public health reviews, 41(1), 1-4.

Molaei Qelichi, M., Murgante, B., Yousefi Feshki, M. et al. Urbanization patterns in Iran visualized through spatial auto-correlation analysis. Spat. Inf. Res. 25, 627–633 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41324-017-0128-0

Liang, W., & Yang, M. (2019). Urbanization, economic growth and environmental pollution: Evidence from China. Sustainable Computing: Informatics and Systems, 21, 1-9.

Meshkini, A., Normohamadi, M., & Zarghamfard, M. (2019). Developing an optimal pattern for state intervention in urban land management: case of Iran, Tehran city. Spatial Information Research, 27(6), 695-708.

Guan, X., Wei, H., Lu, S., Dai, Q., & Su, H. (2018). Assessment on the urbanization strategy in China: Achievements, challenges and reflections. Habitat International, 71, 97-109.

 All methods used in the paper should be explained to the reader. Why were these methods used instead of more traditional ones?

Although the research method is clear but there needs to discuss the accuracy and processing of used datasets. How datasets were taken into spatial form and are their accuracy high enough to test and conclude the hypothesis of the study? 

The section on the study area should be developed. In particular, I would welcome some information on the development of Regio-Metropolitan cities of Amahara region. The information on the exact geographical location of the city (lon and lat) are superfluous.

The findings section is very well written. Only the tables need to be interpreted further. Also Images resolution should be increased.

In the conclusion section, compare your research with other relevant research. In addition, what new knowldge has your research added to knowledge?

Author Response

Response to Reviewer #2

Dear Reviewer thank you for your constructive comments which helps to improve the quality of the paper. Below are list of responses for your suggestions point by point as much as possible

• The English language is thoroughly edited and improved
• The aim of the research is addressed by incorporation of asking question of how urban expansion has implication on building urban resilience in the last paragraph of introduction section.
• The innovativeness of this paper is shown in the introductory section of last paragraph by stating the interlink between sustainability and resilience and most of the previous studies focus on urban expansion and LULCC, but this study examines urban expansion and relationship with resilience. This is stated in last section parag.4 and the whole parag.5
• New references such as what you proposed like kudduss et al.2020; Liang, W., & Yang, M. (2019) etc are included and being used as reference in the literature of the paper.
• The methods used in the paper are explained to the reader by stating why such methods are used and selected for this research than others in the methodology section. The accuracy and processing of quantitative datasets was done using SPSS Version 24, while for qualitative data analysis was done using thematic analysis method based on certain themes and this is clearly explained in the method of analysis (section 2.5)
• Section on the study area is developed more by incorporation location (Lat and Long), socio economic and biophysical issues. Moreover study area map is included to indicate their location.
• Tables are interpreted more and the image resolutions are increased.
• The section of the study area is improved more and map is also included
• In the conclusion section, this research results are compared with other relevant findings in order to show the new knowledge added in this research.

Reviewer 3 Report

The article is based on a very partial interpretation of urban resilience and lacks an in-depth analysis of international scientific literature on the topic. It shows the outcomes of a survey conducted in two city-regions located in Ethiopia. However, the reasons that guided the choice of the case studies as well as the characteristics of the two case studies are not adequately described and it is not clear whether the obtained results can be upscaled to different contexts.

The article shows numerous weaknesses both in its tyheoretical background and in the proposed methodology. In the following only the most relevant ones are listed:

1) the concept of resilience, as currently agreed in scientific literature as well as in most of the international  campaigns launched to improve urban resilience, does not refer only to the ability to cope with hazards but also to deal with long term stresses (such as social and/or economic crises, pandemics, ecc.)

2). there are many experiences in which resilience strategies intersect with planning but certainly planning alone is not enough to build resilience.

3) How were the respondents selected?

4). The authors state they have provided a questionnaire ... who filled it, since a significant number of respondents are classified as illiterate? It is worth noting that different ways to administrate a questionnaire may alter the final outcomes.

5) Were interviews also used to rank hazards? Is there no collected data on this issue? And if data are available, were the data obtained through interviews compared with available data on occurred events their frequency and severity?

6) How is it possible that the respondents, even if they are not familiar with the concept of resilience, give credible and reliable answers on what are the factors that influence resilience?

7) The Author refers to some UNISDR principles dated back to 2013. First of all, the principles mentioned in the text are different from those in the table. In addition, the reasons why the Author decided to refer to these principles are not clearly explained, and no reference is made, for example, to the more recent ten essentials that guided the campaign promoted by UNISDR "Making Cities Resilient".

8) The section on the dimensions of resilience, as previously remarked, does not take into account the wide literature on this topic. A more in-depth analysis of available literature could bring out that there are many other components or dimensions of resilience, that have been largely neglected by the authors. As an example, some fundamental references are here suggested:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258374985_Resilience_Thinking_Integrating_Resilience_Adaptability_and_Transformability

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14649357.2012.677124

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02697459.2013.787695

The references provided by the Authors are very limited and the conclusions and recommendations should be largely improved.

Author Response

Responses to Reviewer #3

Dear Reviewer thank you for your constructive comments which helps to improve the quality of the paper. Below are list of responses for your suggestions point by point as much as possible.

• The English language is thoroughly edited and improved
• The article is improved by incorporating in-depth analysis of international scientific literature on the topic. This is indicated in the introduction, analysis, discussion and conclusion sections of the article.
• The reasons that guided the selection of the case studies as well as the characteristics of the two case studies are revised and described adequately in the methods and materials section.
• The theoretical background is enriched more by using currently agreed scientific literature as well as in most of the international campaigns launched to improve urban resilience to the ability to cope with hazards but also to deal with long term stresses such as social and/or economic crises, pandemics, etc. This is included in the introductory and discussion section of the article
• The intersection of resilience strategies with planning to build resilience is clearly indicated in the discussion section of the article.
• The selection of respondents is clearly shown in the sampling technique and sample size determination section (section 2.4) as stated like this: Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select respondents. Firstly, two sub-cities where there is more peri-urban expansion are selected purposively. Secondly, sample two peri-urban kebeles were selected purposively based on the expansion level. Thirdly Household survey respondents were selected using systematic random sampling technique from the sample peri-urban kebeles. Fourthly, from each peri-urban kebeles in both cities household units were selected using proportional sampling technique based on the number of households’ size in each peri-urban kebel
• The survey data collected using survey questionnaires were filled by trained data collectors guided and supervised by the researchers. This is indicated in the data type and sources section(Section 2.3)
• The interviewee results who were asked to rank the data were summarized together with the survey data.
• Some of the UNISDR principles were not directly practice rather, they were contextualized in order to be more practical to the socioeconomic and development status of case study cities
• The section on the dimensions of resilience are improved more by taking wider literature on the topic . We have used also references suggested by you such as Devoudi et al. 2013
• We increased the number of references from 24 to 37.
• Conclusion and recommendations are improved.