Comprehensive Vulnerability Assessment of Urban Areas Using an Integration of Fuzzy Logic Functions: Case Study of Nasiriyah City in South Iraq

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for writing interesting paper titled "Comprehensive vulnerability assessment of urban areas by using an integration of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy linear membership and fuzzy overlay gamma: Case study of Nasiriyah City in south Iraq". It's well written and requires only few minor revisions.

 

- The title is too long, so I suggest to short it

- Authors should show more detailed what new they introduce to current knowledge in lthe goal of the paper. Also I suggest to avoid symbols in brackets in the goal eg. (Vt).

- The paper is a case study, so I suggest to add some sentences about usage of the method in other cities/countries

 

good luck with your paper!

Author Response

Thank you for the interesting comments.

1- The title is shorted to "Comprehensive vulnerability assessment of urban areas by using an integration of fuzzy logic functions: Case study of Nasiriyah City in south Iraq"

2- More detail is added to introduce the new approach of the current study in the  goal of the paper ( the end of the Introduction section )

3- The symbols in brackets in the goal were deleted. 

4-Some sentences about the usage of the method in other cities/countries have been added in  the Introduction, discussion and conclusion sections.

Reviewer 2 Report

The article presented is of unquestionable quality and should be published, after introducing some small improvements. In its content it is surprising that the study of an Iraqi city is so deep and technically advanced. A very extensive database is available, the use of which is maximized. The overall result is very good.

By sections, the abstract, the introduction and the vulnerability indicators are perfect. Likewise, the methods and results headings are valid.

The requested improvements only refer to Discussion and Conclusion. In discussion it would be of great interest to introduce some criterion of comparability with other Iraqi or Arab cities. Look for some element of transfer of the research results to a broader context. This same search should be reflected in the Conclusion. a good job, but that cannot be confined to the case of Nasiriya, but show lessons for all the urbanization processes in the Arab world.

Publishable with minor revisions

Author Response

I am grateful for these valuable comments!!
1- Some compatibility criterion with Egyptian cities has been introduced in the discussion section. 
2-In the discussion section, the new approach has been introduced as a robust system that can be applied in other Arabic urban areas and developing countries to analyse urban areas.
3- Also, we proposed in the conclusion section that the research results should be transferred to a broader context, such as in Iraq and other developing countries.

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper is interesting. The authors propose a comprehensive vulnerability assessment model for urban areas under environmental degradation, rapid urbanisation, and high population growth.

The authors propose a new approach for a comprehensive vulnerability assessment of urban areas (Vt) by integrating FAHP, FLM and FOG to determine the total vulnerability indicators (Vt) of Nasiriyah City in Iraq.

The paper as a whole is well structured. The authors successfully reach the goal set in this study.

I suggest integrating some sections in order to make this paper on Earth publishable.

·       I suggest deleting figure 1, considering that the criteria and sub-criteria are also presented in figure 4. Or if the authors prefer to anticipate the hierarchical scheme of criteria and sub-criteria, then they should introduce in Section "2. Vulnerability Indicators" also sub-criteria.

·       I suggest specifying in Figure 4 the sub-criteria C1, C2 and C3, in order to fully present criteria and sub-criteria.

·       I suggest integrating in the previous sections the sub-criterion “elevation" which was first introduced only at the end of sub-paragraph "3.4 Delphi technique", or to delete this specification in the relevant sub-paragraph.

·       I suggest always reporting the same name to express the total or aggregate vulnerability, then choose either Vt or Va.

·       I suggest improving the quality of Figure 11, because it is blurry.

·       I suggest that in the Appendix the codes of the neighbourhoods with their names.

·       I suggest that we correct in sub-paragraph "4.7.1. Using machine learning (ML)" Formula (18), in the text there is no formula 18, perhaps the authors were referring to formula 16.

Author Response

I am grateful for these significant comments!!

1-  Figure 1 was deleted,

2- The sub-criteria C1, C2 and C3  in Figure 4 were specified clearly,

3-The sub-criterion “elevation" that was at the end of sub-paragraph "3.4 Delphi technique", was deleted,

4- Only the name "comprehensive vulnerability" was given to express the total vulnerability (Vt), i.e.,  Vt= Va * V e, and the word " aggregate vulnerability" was given to express (Va), i.e. Va= Vs. Vu * Vb,

5-  Figure 11 has been improved,

6-The Appendix A "the codes of the neighbourhoods with their names" has been added in page 34- Table 10,

7-The number of the  formula  in "4.7.1. Using machine learning (ML)" was corrected.

Thank very much