Green Space at New Housing Estates: Flat Price Versus Accessibility to Good Quality Greenery

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Editor,
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to review Manuscript for sustainability. Manuscript has good information with novel idea, However, there are few questions and suggestion, which can improve this manuscript quality for readers.

1.       The abstract in present form is difficult to understand, consult some good publication and rephrase the whole section.

2.       The abstract must contain background, results, conclusion containing future direction, which is missing in present form.

3.       There are lot many grammatical mistakes which are causing bad taste, author need to fix grammatical mistakes.

4.       Last paragraph of introduction have lack of connectivity, add more information, related references and make connectivity with clear objective.

5.       What research gap does this study address in relation to the quality of residential greenery and its relationship with the price of a flat?

6.       What are the implications of the legal situation surrounding RBVA (Residential Building Volume Allocation) on the quality standards of the residential environment and the creation of green areas? How does this often result in greenery being limited to the statutory minimum and consequently lead to newly developed housing estates lacking concentrated green spaces?

7.       Table 1 needed more information regarding area.

8.       Figure 1 information looks not clear. Make it clear and better to bold locations to under image for readers.

9.       Better to make 6 and 7 table make one.

10.    How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the perception and utilization of residential greenery among urban residents, particularly those from underprivileged residential areas in Berlin? Has there been an increased emphasis on the importance of greenery near their residences, considering the reduced access to public parks and recreational areas during the pandemic?

11.   Make more precise result and discussion section, specially compare your study with previous studies and compile your results carefully.

12.   Be consistent with abbreviations, provide the full form at first, abbreviation can be used subsequently.

13.   Provide with proper SI unit while quoting results.

English language should be improved.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. They will certainly help to improve the article.

Below are responses to your comments (in red):

1. The abstract in present form is difficult to understand, consult some good publication and rephrase the whole section. 2. The abstract must contain background, results, conclusion containing future direction, which is missing in present form.

The structure of abstract was rephrased.

3. There are lot many grammatical mistakes which are causing bad taste, author need to fix grammatical mistakes.

The grammatical corrections were made.

4. Last paragraph of introduction have lack of connectivity, add more information, related references and make connectivity with clear objective.

Last paragraph of the introduction was restructured, and some new references were added.

5. What research gap does this study address in relation to the quality of residential greenery and its relationship with the price of a flat?

We clarified what research gap our study addresses.

6. What are the implications of the legal situation surrounding RBVA (Residential Building Volume Allocation) on the quality standards of the residential environment and the creation of green areas? How does this often result in greenery being limited to the statutory minimum and consequently lead to newly developed housing estates lacking concentrated green spaces?

By RBVA we mean Ratio of Biologically Vital Areas. Implications of its legal situation are rather serious. But in our research, we found that the minimum requirements are met and the RBVA is even more than 25% (Table 2). 

7. Table 1 needed more information regarding area.

Statistical data from 2010-2020 on the amount of greenery in housing estates in Poznań indicate a decrease in this form of greenery by 8%. These are areas accompanying multi-family housing, excluding parks, squares, street greenery, forests, communes cemeteries and private gardens.

8. Figure 1 information looks not clear. Make it clear and better to bold locations to under image for readers.

Figure has been improved. Locations have been bolded.

9. Better to make 6 and 7 table make one.

Tables 6 and 7 have been merged.

10. How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the perception and utilization of residential greenery among urban residents, particularly those from underprivileged residential areas in Berlin? Has there been an increased emphasis on the importance of greenery near their residences, considering the reduced access to public parks and recreational areas during the pandemic?

In the cited work by Säumel and Sanft (2022), the researchers do not refer to how post-pandemic expectations of city dwellers towards urban greenery influenced the policy of municipal authorities, but we found a report that some cities (e.g. Beijing) made an effort after the pandemic to determine what are the behaviour patterns of residents related to urban greenery in order to improve the urban greenery system and its functioning (Xu, H.; Zhao, G.; Liu, Y.;  Miao, M. Using Social Media Camping Data for Evaluating, Quantifying, and Understanding Recreational Ecosystem Services in Post-COVID-19 Megacities: A Case Study from Beijing. Forests, 2023, 14(6), 1151.)

11. Make more precise result and discussion section, specially compare your study with previous studies and compile your results carefully.

We have tried to improve this part of the manuscript by comparing the results of our study with previous studies, and we hope that will meet your expectations

12. Be consistent with abbreviations, provide the full form at first, abbreviation can be used subsequently.

Abbreviations and full names have been checked and tidied up

13. Provide with proper SI unit while quoting results.

We are not sure which unit do you refer to. However, we tried to make the tables’ captions more legible. 

With kind regards,

Authors

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

It is my pleasure to be a reviewer for such an interesting and comprehensive scientific paper. However, I would have a few suggestions for its improvement.

You have repeatedly stated that one of the objectives of the work is to examine the quality of greenery. What was the criteria (methods) for determining the quality of greenery? Please provide the specific method of how you approached and carried out this research, specifically quality of greenery .

Line 385-387: You state that new species of tall trees have been planted. Please indicate which species it is.

 

Thank you very much for your answers.

Best regards

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. They will certainly help to improve the article.

Below are responses to your comments (in red):

“You have repeatedly stated that one of the objectives of the work is to examine the quality of greenery. What was the criteria (methods) for determining the quality of greenery? Please provide the specific method of how you approached and carried out this research, specifically quality of greenery”

Good quality greenery results from many factors like its area, type, biodiversity accessibility etc. According to these essential characteristics we were able to prepare different indicators of quality of greenery. Combining these indicators allowed us to compare two groups of investments with statistical methods. We have added an explanation in the text.

“Line 385-387: You state that new species of tall trees have been planted. Please indicate which species it is.”

The most popular tree species and their cultivars were: Tilia cordata ‘Greenspire’, Acer campestre ‘Elsrijk’ and Carpinus betulus ‘Frans Fontaine’ (added in text). 

 

With kind regards,

Authors

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors analyzed new housing developments in Poznan, Poland.

The research showed that the price of apartments does not affect the quality of residential greenery. The quality of greenery in new housing developments is similar, despite the price. Developers do not take concrete actions in the field of environmental compensation. Which leads to a lowering of the quality of green and public space.

 

Pun with the limitations highlighted by the work regarding data availability, the work proved to be interesting and well developed by the authors. 

The bibliography is substantial and recent, and the methodology was followed by a very comprehensive analysis of the results.

Therefore, I think the article can be considered for publication

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for taking the time and for your positive feedback on our manuscript.

With best regards,

Authors

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors,

I would like to thank you for adopting all my suggestions for improving the manuscript.

Hope that your work will be published.

 

Best regards