The Compactness of Non-Compacted Urban Developments: A Critical Review on Sustainable Approaches to Automobility and Urban Sprawl

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Abstract

The abstract has structural flaws and needs some improvements to be clearer. The research problem and its context should be framed in order to get a better understand of the research question. methodology and the main result and should be address.

Introduction

This sentence and the date should be justified: “Therefore, long debates have been held over transitioning into sustain-able cities; this has become an urgent matter since 1972. “

 

Justify with references: “Some countries such as the U.K., China, the U.A.E, and Korea have attempted to tackle the downsides of urban sprawl through technology; they have established eco-carbon cities such as Masdar in the U.A.E. and ubiquitous cities, such as those in Korea.”

 

“However, these kinds of cities are prohibitively expensive, were founded to serve the high-income classes, and increase social segregation.” How or in what sense social segregation is increase?

 

2.1, 2.2

A table would help to summarize and point out the main conceptual evidences.

3.

“It is the dream for both rich American, and poor Africans. This dream is widespread and shared in all countries. Among different kinds of vehicles available, the car is the most needed and, therefore, cars are dominant on the streets.” This language based on adjectives and social prejudices is not quite suitable. Justify with references.

Until this point, theses sections are not built with the references in chronological order, therefore, it makes it difficult to understand and sequence the research idea.

 

Conclusions.

The research questions are not evidenced and addressed in this section.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Herewith, is the response on your comments.

Thank you for your effort.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for possibility to read this interesting and very updated paper.

It is very useful elaboration of important topic especially for sustainable planninge and just few minor revision are necessary:

-          Add some more information on the methodology in the abstract

-          The literature review is quite aimed but I suggest the authors to include concept of carsharing as base for automobility development in the cities:

Chen, T.D., Kockelman, K.M., Hanna, J.P. Operations of a shared, autonomous, electric vehicle fleet: Implications of vehicle & charging infrastructure decisions. (2016) Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 94, pp. 243-254

Machado, C.A.S., Hue, N.P.M.S., Berssaneti, F.T., Quintanilha, J.A. An overview of shared mobility. (2018) Sustainability (Switzerland), 10 (12), art. no. 4342

Kot, S. Carsharing concept implementation in relation to sustainability - evidence from Poland. (2019) Energy Transformation Towards Sustainability, pp. 179-197

-          Add some comparison to existing solutions in the literature in the study results discussion

-          Add study limitations and practical recommendations in the conclusion

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Herewith, is the response on your comments.

Thank you for your effort.

Best regards,

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript is well writtenand I  have some comments on the review, which I hope can help the authors improve the manuscript.

1、The data examples discussed in the private car dependency ( Section 3.1 ), the economic and environmental problems of the automobile ( Section 3.2 ), and the policies interrelated to traffic congestion ( Section 4.2 ), as well as the survey data obtained in Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3 are more than 10 years from today. It is recommended to observe and collect more latest data. For example, the use of electric bicycles in China has increased by tens of millions per year in recent years.

2、In Chapter 6, the author discusses a compact concept of non-compact development, arguing that the city organizes itself through continued movements of residents to live near their workplaces. This is very novel and takes into account the social and cultural differences of the population. However, this part lacks more detailed support, such as whether the choice of home and workplace is related to government policies, family income levels, preferences for living in the suburbs and other factors ? This would be a better discussion if there were an explanation of the case.

3、Based on such a hypothesis, private car dependency leads to economic and environmental problems, and leads to urban sprawl, which seems to be a common phenomenon in the world. But in China, urban sprawl may be related to many factors, such as urban status, land policy, development of public transport and so on. This is a ponderable question of the impact of other modes of transport on urban sprawl.

4、In recent years, the development of many new modes of transportation and new technologies cannot be ignored. For example, in Japan, the development of rail transit has brought the convergence of urban suburbs and urban areas. Some cities in Boston, the United States, Russia and other countries plan to develop ' underground highway ' to solve automobile problems. Tesla new energy vehicle sales continued to grow in China. Discussions on these issues can reflect differences and innovations from previous city-planning theories.

 

Author Response

ear Reviewer,

Herewith, is the response on your comments.

Thank you for your effort.

Best regards,

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf