Research on Spatial Restructuring of Farmers’ Homestead Based on the “Point-Line-Surface” Characteristics of Mountain Villages

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1. In the introduction, the author puts forward the theoretical basis of this thesis, but lacks the international case study to prove it.

2. Why did you choose this location? How does it compare with other regions?

3. In fact, although the study area is analyzed from three angles of point, line and surface by case analysis, there are differences between this study area and the theoretical model of point, line and surface, the theoretical construction of this paper tends to be a form of residential space evolution, but this paper is only a single year of residential land analysis, the theoretical construction of this article is inadequate.

4. The representative rivers (watercourses) in the linear feature should be added in the Figure 1.

5. In section 3.3.1, does the spatial reconstruction model need to incorporate the“Point-line-surface” structure of this paper?

6. This study is limited to the study area, the discussion needs to further explain the international implications of relevant research how?

 

Author Response

Comment 1:  In the introduction, the author puts forward the theoretical basis of this thesis, but lacks the international case study to prove it.

[Response] Thank you for pointing out the shortcomings of the introduction. Based on your comments, we have focused on reviewing relevant international literature containing the rural planning idea of "point,""line," and "surface", and supplemented it with case studies of rural planning from other countries and regions. The revised part focuses on lines 53-73, and the revised content is as follows：

Land issues can be harnessed to improve rural lives and economies [1,6], particularly through spatial planning and reconfiguration, land use restructuring and community design. Similar to Contemporary European Union (EU) and Pan-European policies stress the importance of spatial planning for the long-term sustainability of regions [7], many countries and regions have carried out many theoretical and practical explorations on rural spatial planning and community renovation. Particularly, the common rural settlement pattern in many developing countries is dispersion [8], which tends to be one of the major contributing factors to rural disadvantage and under-development [9]. Therefore, Concentrated residential planning as a rural development approach has been introduced around the world to reverse rural recession under urbanization and cope with rural settlement dispersion [10]. For example, As early as the 1960s, the Tanzanian government developed spatial plans for clustering several residential clusters or hamlets surrounding an area in which farms were to be established, with Each cluster of houses accommodating about 60 families in plots of about half an acre each, making four clusters as a full-fledged settlement [11]. Moreover, the UK, the former Soviet Union, Japan, the USA, South Africa, Thailand and other countries had also carried out key settlement construction or settlement rationalisation projects, with ambitious schemes to reorganise the dispersed settlement pattern, modernise the infrastructures, diversify the economy and slow the depopulation in rural areas [12–17]. And these experiences have effectively demonstrated the above viewpoint.

 

Comment 2: Why did you choose this location? How does it compare with other regions?

[Response] Thank you for pointing out the weakness of this study's case presentation, and we apologize for omitting this key point in our writing. For this reason, we have made the following revisions. First, we have refined the basic situation of Longfeng Village, highlighting its broad representativeness as a typical village type for rural revitalization in mountainous areas. Second, we have highlighted its differences from other regions in terms of natural conditions, industrial development, and socio-culture. Third, we have illustrated the practical significance of choosing Longfeng Village as a case study from the perspective of the change in rural housing use. The revised part focuses on lines 318-321 and 338-350, and the specific content after revision is as follows:

Longfeng Village is in Xinglong Town, southeast of Meitan County, Guizhou Province, 12 kilometers from Meitan County (Figure 2). The village has a good climate and ecological environment with rain and heat in the same season, an average annual temperature of 15.2℃, an average annual precipitation of 1,115.6mm, and an average annual sunshine hours of 1,033.9 hours. The land area of the whole village is 951.42 hm2, with four villager groups under the jurisdiction of the Baodongba group, Fenghuang group, Pingshang group, and Egongba group. In the whole village, the arable land area is 257.43 hm2, accounting for 27.06% of the total land area; the tea garden area is 174.03 hm2, accounting for 18.29%; the forest land area is 422.27 hm2, accounting for 44.38%; and the construction land area of the village is 46.32 hm2, accounting for 4.87%. Longfeng Village is one of the demonstration sites of socialist new rural construction in Maitan County, with the tea industry as the leading industry and rural tourism as the supplement, focusing on the development of ecological tourism and leisure industry. Longfeng Village has been successively awarded the titles of "National Agricultural Tourism Demonstration Site", "National Demonstration Village of Democracy and Rule of Law" and "National Rural Tourism Key Village". In 2020, the village had a total of 3,011 people, with a total annual per capita income of 20,800 RMB and an average household ownership rate of 91% for family cars. Farmers' household income is mainly derived from self-employment, labor income, farming, and so on. Due to the good location conditions and the basis of agricultural industry, Longfeng Village was positioned as a village of agglomeration and upgrading class in the rural revitalization strategy of Meitan County, which also widely representative. From a comprehensive point of view, Longfeng Village has a high altitude (796-1084 m), complex and changeable terrain, and its natural endowment is basically the same as that of most mountain villages. Meanwhile, the village also possesses unique cultural genes such as lantern drama and revolutionary culture, and integrates traditional agriculture and modern tourism in its industrial structure. It can be seen that Longfeng Village not only has the common characteristics of general mountain villages in terms of natural conditions, industrial development and social culture, but also has its own unique differences. In addition, in recent years, under the background of industrial structure adjustment, rapid tourism development and external policy support in this village, the changes in the scale, function and layout of rural residential land have been very active, which is typical and of great practical significance as a study area, and it is expected to provide strong reference for the spatial reconstruction of mountainous villages.

 

Comment 3:In fact, although the study area is analyzed from three angles of point, line and surface by case analysis, there are differences between this study area and the theoretical model of point, line and surface, the theoretical construction of this paper tends to be a form of residential space evolution, but this paper is only a single year of residential land analysis, the theoretical construction of this article is inadequate.

[Response] Thank you very much for your useful suggestions, which is very helpful to clarify the logic of the article. As you said, due to the difficulty of obtaining micro-time series, the current article's description of the "point-line-surface" framework is still relatively rough, resulting in the problem of poor connection between theory and case. Therefore, based on your constructive opinions, we try to connect the dynamic time series evolution with the static time point pattern by deepening the understanding of the ' point-line-surface ' framework attributes, correlation mechanism and application scenarios, so as to enrich the construction content of the basic theory. The core starting point of the revision is that we believe that the existing distribution pattern of rural settlements (a certain point in time) is not formed suddenly, but evolved from long-term history, and to a large extent bears a "historical imprint". That is, the spatial evolution of rural settlements affects the existing distribution pattern, while the existing distribution pattern effectively reflects the evolution process, and the two are interrelated and inseparable. Since the spatial evolution of rural residential land has the characteristics of "point, line and surface", does the existing land use pattern, which is the final result of its historical evolution, have the same characteristics, and is it possible to connect the two organically? Therefore, through literature review and group discussion, we believe that the "point-line-surface" framework has three basic attributes of multi-scale, systematic and dynamics, which can be used as a theoretical basis to explain the dynamic spatial evolution process of rural homesteads, and also the main characteristics of the static distribution pattern of rural homestead at a certain point in time. In other words, "point-line-surface" can describe the vertical evolution process and horizontal plane characteristics of the spatial layout of rural homestead at the same time. For the applicable scenario of the "point-line-surface" theoretical framework, we believe that the micro-scale is suitable for analyzing the distribution pattern characteristics of rural homesteads, while the medium and macro-scales are suitable for staging the historical evolution of rural settlements. In addition, we further pointed out the shortcomings and deficiencies in the theoretical construction of this study in the discussion, and hope that in the follow-up study, we can enrich the complete "point-line-surface" framework system by supplementing cases at different scales. And we also hope to continue to communicate with you and get your guidance in the future. The revised section focuses on lines 147-155 and 162-181, and the revised content is as follows:

2.1. Theoretical construction

......

"Point, line and surface" are the basic elements of plane space, and the distribution of regional spatial elements has obvious structural characteristics of "point-line-surface". Therefore, the "point-line-surface" analysis framework constructed based on these characteristics is of great significance to the in-depth understanding of comprehensive regional development. The framework of "point-line-surface" has multiple characteristics such as multi-scale, multi-content, multi-elements and multi-function. At different spatial scales, the conceptual connotation, manifestation form, and value function of point, line and surface are not only different, but also collinear [41]. Generally, "surface" contains "line" and "point" of the same scale, "line" contains "point" of the same scale, and "point" is used as the "face" of the lower scale. With the transformation of scale and the change of elements and environments, the three can realize mutual transformation [42]. The process can be briefly described as follows: With the continuous increase of the number of scattered point elements derived from the progress of economy and society, the continuous strengthening of the degree of connection between points will inevitably give birth to axis elements such as roads. These axes will connect many scattered points into small-scale "point-line" complexes by giving full play to the exchange function of elements, and the expansion of multiple small-scale complexes will form a boundary blend in a larger scale space, and then evolve into a large-scale "surface" complex. In addition, the "point-line-surface" framework is not only limited to analyzing the evolution process of geographic elements on the time scale, but also extends its application scenarios and scope of application due to its basic attributes of scale, systematicity and dynamism. In other words, the framework is also applicable to analyzing the layout of regional elements at a certain time point on the spatial scale. It should be noted that when using the "point-line-surface" framework to analyze the spatial characteristics of regional elements in a specific year, it is necessary to control the connotation and scope of elements within the same scale (macro, meso or micro) as a precondition. The framework of "point-line-surface" is applicable to analyze regional development at any scale, and the development according to the point-axis system model can achieve the optimal spatial combination between production layout and linear infrastructure, and achieve the optimal regional factor structure [43].

As far as the specific urban-rural settlement pattern is concerned, the "points" mainly refer to settlements and central cities at all levels, the "lines" mainly refer to axis infrastructure such as transportation and waterways(for example, a large number of settlement patterns along waterways in the Pearl River Delta, China), and the "surfaces" mainly refer to integrated agglomeration areas developed dynamically from "point-line". The existing distribution pattern of rural settlements (at a certain point in time) is not suddenly formed, but evolved from a long history, and to a large extent with a "historical imprint". Correspondingly, the spatial evolution process of rural settlements affects the existing distribution pattern, while the existing distribution pattern effectively reflects the evolution process, and the two are interrelated and inseparable. Based on the above theory, it can be seen that the "point-line-surface" framework can be a theoretical basis for explaining the dynamic spatial evolution process of rural residential land, as well as the main features of the static distribution pattern of rural residential land at a certain time point. In other words, "point-line-surface" can simultaneously describe the vertical evolution process and horizontal plane characteristics of the spatial layout of rural residential land. However, since the conceptual connotation and change process of rural settlements have significant multi-scale complex relationships, the "point-line-surface" framework should be strictly differentiated according to the scale when analyzing the spatial structure characteristics of rural settlements at different scales, of which the micro-scale is suitable for analyzing the distribution pattern characteristics of rural residential land, whereas the medium- and macro-scales are suitable for staging the historical evolution of rural settlements. If the scale is further sunk to the micro-scale of the village, the "points" are mostly manifested as the concrete residential land patches, the "axes" are manifested as roads or rivers, and the "surfaces" are shown as settlements or functional areas. From the existing studies, it is not difficult to find that the spatial layout of rural settlements in China (especially in mountainous areas) has obvious characteristics of point-shaped distribution and axis direction of transportation and water systems [44,45]. Most of them form planar agglomerations in intermontane valleys and have widespread problems such as scattered distribution and chaotic structure [46]. In summary, using the framework of "point-line-surface" to analyze the spatial characteristics of farmers' homesteads in mountainous regions and putting forward the reconstruction strategies had theoretical adaptability and realistic demand.

 

Comment 4：The representative rivers (watercourses) in the linear feature should be added in the Figure 1.

[Response] Thank you for your suggestions, we couldn't agree more. In fact, the evolution of rural settlements has always been characterized by expansion along "lines", and these so-called "lines" are often best represented by rivers and roads. Especially in the traditional period when people relied heavily on the natural environment for development, rivers were the decisive factor influencing the distribution of rural settlements. We have never forgotten the importance of rivers for the study of rural settlement layout. However, in the case of Longfeng Village selected for this study, the distribution of rural house sites along the road is particularly significant, and it does not show obvious distribution characteristics along the river. In addition, the overall color of Figure 1 is black and white, and adding a river (usually blue) will damage the overall aesthetics of the picture. Therefore, we believe that it is not appropriate to include line features representing rivers in Figure 1 of this paper. However, we have included an example of a water village in the Pearl River Delta, China (lines 162-163) in the textual description of Fig. 1 to give the reader a clear idea of the importance of rivers.

 

Comment 5：In section 3.3.1, does the spatial reconstruction model need to incorporate the“Point-line-surface” structure of this paper?

[Response] Thank you very much for your valuable suggestions, which we strongly agree with. In fact, we coincide with your point of view to apply the "point-line-surface" framework to real cases as the focus of this study. We apologize for not clearly explaining how the spatial reconfiguration model fits into the "point-line-surface" structure in Section 3.3.1, but please allow us to provide further explanation and clarification here: In fact, the four spatial reconstruction models are all proposed under the guidance of the "point-line-surface" framework, taking into account the location conditions of each area and the development status of rural residential land. In other words, each spatial reconstruction model integrates the structure of "point-line-surface", while the comprehensive characteristics of regional elements are the key to distinguish the four reconstruction models. Specifically, the residential land in each area of Longfeng Village has different high, medium and low development capabilities ("point"), different distance distribution along the road ("line"), and multi-functional characteristics of production-living-ecology ("surface"). But the combination of research and quantitative analysis revealed that, “The two units of Egongba and Tianjiagou in the north and south of the village domain have relatively flat terrain and good external traffic conditions, and the public service facilities such as the village committee, nursing home, and cultural center are concentrated distribution. The areas of high-level and medium-level capacity homesteads also account for more than 80% of the total, which have the basic conditions for transformation into the modern rural community.” Thus, it was judged to be a modern community type, and the other types were judged similarly .

 

Comment 6：This study is limited to the study area, the discussion needs to further explain the international implications of relevant research how?

[Response] Thank you for your comments on the limitations of the study. We have followed your comments and supplemented the country impact of this study in terms of its limitations, applicability, and possible replication value, taking into account the relevant international cases mentioned in the preface. The revisions are concentrated in lines 601-632, and the details of the revisions are as follows:

4. Discussions

United Nations "Agenda 21" points out that many mountain areas around the world are facing environmental degradation, and, the sustainable development of mountainous areas is more important and urgent than ever [61]. Homestead, as the core component of the rural regional system in mountainous areas, has a good spatial development trend that can open the "meridian blockage" of the rural regional system and promote the "blood circulation" between the various elements in the system, which is an important path to solve the practical problems of empty waste, disorderly expansion, excessive area, and scattered layout of rural settlements in mountainous areas. Under this condition, the "point-line-surface" framework constructed in this study essentially reveals the common linear characteristics of the spatial evolution and layout of urban and rural settlements, which conforms to the general law of the development of urban and rural settlements in the global mountainous areas. To a certain extent, it breaks through the shackles of administrative boundaries, provides a new perspective for the optimization of international urban and rural settlements, and is of great significance for enriching the theoretical system of international rural spatial governance. In addition, although the study area focuses on a specific Chinese village, the typical representativeness of this case village in terms of natural conditions, industrial structure and living space makes it expected to bring useful reference value to the spatial reconstruction of the same type of villages in other countries around the world (especially mountainous villages). However, this study still has the following limitations to be broken through. Firstly, the conceptual connotation and model framework of "point-line-surface" still need to be further deepened. This paper focuses more on case description and analysis, failing to deeply analyze the connotation and extension, morphological function, driving factors and operational logic of "point", "line" and '"surface" at different scales. Therefore, how to continuously improve the "point-line-surface" model on this basis will become the focus of subsequent research work. Secondly, this study only uses the survey data of a single year to analyze the "point-line-surface" characteristics of rural housing in the case village and lacks long-term longitudinal analysis, which makes it difficult to grasp the long-term change characteristics of the rural homesteads at the micro level, especially how the internal structure and function of the rural homesteads change with the social and economic development.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The article "Research on Spatial Restructuring of Farmers' Homestead Based on the "Point-Line-Surface" Characteristics of Mountain Villages" deals with a topic of great current interest. The text is well written and the sequence of exposition of its reasonings is coherently organized.  In addition, the literary style is clear, in such a way that we are not faced with one of those writings that resist the reader's comprehension no matter how many times he reads and rereads its paragraphs. Moreover, the methodology is rigorous and well explained, and the article is developed in consistency and concordance with it. For all these reasons, this is a manuscript that could and deserves to be published. However, before doing so, the authors should make some modifications such as the ones I indicate below:

1) The authors should clarify and better define what they mean by several concepts included in the key words of the text such as "land consolidation", "rural restructuring" or "rural revitalization".

2) I would also require the authors to better explain concepts such as "modern community", "rural spatial governance and modernization", "field and garden integration type", "road pointing type", and "traditional residential type". There are abundant references in English that can help them in this task.

3) A new section devoted to systematically highlighting the limitations of this work as well as outlining future lines of research should be added.

4) Some Recommendations for institutions and politicians in charge of implementing policies aimed at the rural world should also be methodically and clearly written. These recommendations could be included in a new section or also in the Conclusions section.

5) More theoretical references on spatial planning and rural development are missing. The list of references in English of a transnational scope in this respect is so extensive that I leave to the authors' discretion the selection of some of them that, in their view, are more in accordance with what they deal with in their manuscript.

6) In addition to the criterion of taking into account the "Point-Line-Surface" Characteristics, as the authors do, there are other analytical strategies that have proven to be very useful for organizing and planning the development of rural communities. For example, the strategy consisting of systematizing the socioeconomic Weaknesses, Strengths, Threats and Opportunities of a given rural community in order to make precise diagnoses of its initial situation and, based on these analyses, of its capabilities and potentials for achieving development. The authors should at least mention some of these strategies.

7) In line 491 and following it says: "Future research should deepen the research from the aspects of scale, method and strategy, and focus on analyzing the complex characteristics of rural settlements with multi-connotation, multi-scale and multi-factor." I suggest to the authors to avoid using expressions of this type, which are not easily understood by a large public of high culture, but not necessarily expert in these issues, among which this article should aspire to be disseminated to achieve the impact it deserves.

8) Table 2 could and should be explained in greater depth and, above all, the consequences for development that can be derived from the indices summarized in it should be explained in clearer language for both rural policy makers and other experts and members of society interested in these issues.

I am confident that these recommendations, which are basically intended to be constructive and indicative, will serve as a basis for the authors to improve the current version of their manuscript. I give them all my encouragement to carry out this task.

Author Response

Comment 1：The authors should clarify and better define what they mean by several concepts included in the key words of the text such as "land consolidation", "rural restructuring" or "rural revitalization".

[Response] Thank you for your comments on the key concepts. Based on your guiding suggestions, we have made the following revisions: Firstly, we have revised the "key words" in the light of the core issues of this paper, and refined "land consolidation" to "rural residential land consolidation". "Second, a new paragraph (the first paragraph) is added in the introduction to describe the macro background of this study, and the concepts of "land consolidation", "rural reconstruction" and "rural revitalization" and their guiding roles for this paper are explained accordingly in this part. The revised part focuses on lines 38-52, which are amended as follows:

1. Introduction

Rural decline is becoming a global issue, and a rural revival is needed around the globe, especially for developing countries [1]. The connotation of rural revitalization is to stimulate internal motivation and absorb external resources through economic, political and cultural construction in order to cope with the loss and decline of internal factors in the countryside [2], so as to optimize the structure of factors, enhance regional functions, reshape rural forms, and realize the comprehensive rejuvenation of rural regional economy, society and ecology and the new pattern of urban-rural integration and development [3]. The core objective of rural vitalization is to systemically establish a coupling pattern of various rural development elements including population, land and industry [4]. As one of the prerequisites, land resources is required to be optimally allocated via land consolidation [5]. Consequently, land consolidation contributes greatly in population agglomeration, industry development and resources support under the context of combating rural decline [2–4]. As one of the most important types of land in rural space, the optimization of the spatial layout of rural settlements has always been a major difficulty in land consolidation.

......

 

Comment 2：I would also require the authors to better explain concepts such as "modern community", "rural spatial governance and modernization", "field and garden integration type", "road pointing type", and "traditional residential type". There are abundant references in English that can help them in this task.

[Response] Thank you very much for your suggestions on the spatial reconfiguration patterns section, which have benefited this paper. Following your comments, we have reviewed the relevant international literature with four types of reconstruction patterns as the search topic, and added and explained the conceptual connotations of each type. The revised section focuses on lines 507-514, 526-536, 550-559, and 573-579, and the details of the revisions are as follows:

3.3.1. Spatial reconstruction modes of homestead in different reconstruction units

Based on the spatial distribution features of "point-line-surface" of farmers' homesteads in Longfeng Village, this article combined the conditions of farmers' needs, regional functions, and village resource endowments, then constructed four spatial reconstruction models of homesteads for different reconstruction units (Figure 5), to provide decision support for improving human settlement quality and creating beautiful and livable villages at the village level.

(1) Modern community type, refers to the rural spatial development model with concentrated and orderly housing, better public service system, more sound infrastructure network, and co-governance by multiple social subjects, which has the remarkable features of infrastructure urbanization, community-based life service and citizenization of lifestyle. The centralized agglomeration area formed by this model has a spillover effect and domino effect on the surrounding areas [60]. It has a driving effect on the development of the surrounding areas, which has been widely popular in Europe and the United States and other developed countries. The two units of Egongba and Tianjiagou in the north and south of the village domain have relatively flat terrain and good external traffic conditions, ......

(2) Field and garden integration type, refers to the construction of a comprehensive gathering platform based on the original rural residential area, led by the elements of industry, ecology, leisure and tourism, focusing on the living life of multiple types of subjects (local villagers, industrial workers, foreign tourists), based on ecologically sustainable agriculture and supported by rural landscape leisure. This model embodies the integration of various resource elements, agricultural production, living, cultural landscape, leisure agglomeration and comprehensive service are its main functions. Recently, the world has formed the development models of advantageous and characteristic agricultural industry, cultural creativity driving the integration of three industries, urban and suburban modern agricultural sightseeing garden, agricultural creativity and agricultural experience. The two units of Tianba and Qinggangpo in the northern part of the village are rich in resources and diverse in functions, ......

(3) Road pointing type. Unlike the natural elements, the influence between improving road traffic conditions and the spatial distribution of rural settlements is interactive. The rural settlement distribution remains unchanged while the road conditions are improved, and the road conditions remain unchanged and rural settlements are arranged towards the road, both can make the distribution of settlements tend to "road pointing". This housing type often relies on the advantages of road traffic to achieve development, and its utilization activities and functions are mostly closely related to the "road economy". For example, the closer a rural residential area is to a road, the more road-service-oriented places such as kiosks, water filling stations, automobile repair stores and hotels are found significantly. The road is the axis connecting the homesteads, and the characteristics of rural homesteads distributed along the road axis in mountainous areas are significant......

(4) Traditional residential type, mainly refers to the architectural history of long-term, rich cultural genes, unique architectural style with the characteristics of the traditional residential. Such buildings have significant national and local colors and also have important historical and cultural values. This type of residence is suitable for protection as a historical building, and it is particularly necessary to pay attention to the inheritance and renewal of key elements such as its cultural connotation, historical context, and architectural style. In the two units of Qinglongwan and Shipo in the southeast of the village, the area of low-level capacity homesteads accounts for about 45%......

 

Comment 3： A new section devoted to systematically highlighting the limitations of this work as well as outlining future lines of research should be added.

[Response] Thank you for your suggestions on the structure of the article. We have reorganized the discussion section in terms of the limitations of this study, possible international implications, and future research directions, and we hope that we have met the expectations of the revisions that you have proposed for this article. The revised section focuses on lines 601-632 and 636-662, and the specific content after revision is as follows:

4. Discussions

United Nations "Agenda 21" points out that many mountain areas around the world are facing environmental degradation, and, the sustainable development of mountainous areas is more important and urgent than ever [61]. Homestead, as the core component of the rural regional system in mountainous areas, has a good spatial development trend that can open the "meridian blockage" of the rural regional system and promote the "blood circulation" between the various elements in the system, which is an important path to solve the practical problems of empty waste, disorderly expansion, excessive area, and scattered layout of rural settlements in mountainous areas. Under this condition, the "point-line-surface" framework constructed in this study essentially reveals the common linear characteristics of the spatial evolution and layout of urban and rural settlements, which conforms to the general law of the development of urban and rural settlements in the global mountainous areas. To a certain extent, it breaks through the shackles of administrative boundaries, provides a new perspective for the optimization of international urban and rural settlements, and is of great significance for enriching the theoretical system of international rural spatial governance. In addition, although the study area focuses on a specific Chinese village, the typical representativeness of this case village in terms of natural conditions, industrial structure and living space makes it expected to bring useful reference value to the spatial reconstruction of the same type of villages in other countries around the world (especially mountainous villages). However, this study still has the following limitations to be broken through. Firstly, the conceptual connotation and model framework of "point-line-surface" still need to be further deepened. This paper focuses more on case description and analysis, failing to deeply analyze the connotation and extension, morphological function, driving factors and operational logic of "point", "line" and '"surface" at different scales. Therefore, how to continuously improve the "point-line-surface" model on this basis will become the focus of subsequent research work. Secondly, this study only uses the survey data of a single year to analyze the "point-line-surface" characteristics of rural housing in the case village and lacks long-term longitudinal analysis, which makes it difficult to grasp the long-term change characteristics of the rural homesteads at the micro level, especially how the internal structure and function of the rural homesteads change with the social and economic development.

With the strengthening of the interaction between urban and rural elements in the new era and the continuous drastic changes in the rural territorial system, the spatial optimization of rural settlements in mountainous regions not only undertakes a variety of policy management objectives from top to bottom, but also appeals to multiple utilization demands from bottom to top. So how to build a sustainable spatial equilibrium pattern of settlements under the influence of complex variables has become the key to revitalizing the world’s countryside. Facing this complex background of global change, future research should focus on the following aspects. 1) Integration of multidisciplinary theories to continually enrich the theory of "point-line-surface" and provide new perspectives for the spatial planning and utilization of regional settlements. "Point-line-surface" is a theoretical framework characterized by openness, dynamism and inclusiveness, which should not remain unchanged, but continuously update and improve the theoretical framework system through the continuous incorporation and integration of other proven effective theories and strategies, in order to satisfy the theoretical innovation needs raised by socio-economic changes. For example, the significant role of the "SWOT" framework for regional spatial planning has been widely confirmed [62–64]. Therefore, it seems to be a feasible and innovative program to enrich the evaluation index system, development status and obstacle factors from four aspects of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Similarly, concepts and theories such as resilience [65], rurality [66], and center-periphery [67] should also be considered and integrated into the "point-line-surface" framework, so as to better provide theoretical support for evaluating and formulating regional spatial planning strategies. 2) Explore and expand the application scope and scenarios of the "point-line-surface" framework, and evaluate its environmental and economic effects and social response behavior. The theoretical framework of "point-line-surface" should start from serving practice, and its scope of application should be extended from the spatial layout of urban and rural settlements to the fields of regional industrial layout, infrastructure construction and territorial spatial planning, etc. However, the application issues of "point-line-surface" in different fields such as obstacles, scenario simulation and public response need to be studied in depth.

 

Comment 4：Some Recommendations for institutions and politicians in charge of implementing policies aimed at the rural world should also be methodically and clearly written. These recommendations could be included in a new section or also in the Conclusions section.

[Response] Thank you very much for your valuable comments, which we very much agree with. In fact, we tried to include some countermeasures in the first draft, but it was not perfect and structured clearly enough. Therefore, based on your useful suggestions, we have added a new section "Implementing suggestion" in the "Conclusion" section, which is based on the "point-line-surface" framework and the characteristics of the 4 types of spatial reconstruction patterns. In the "Conclusion" section, a separate "Implementing suggestion" section has been added to clearly show the countermeasure suggestions in this paper. The revised part focuses on lines 695-720, and the revised contents are as follows:

5.2. Implementing suggestion

Among them, (1) The modern community type should improve the construction of modern community life supporting facilities and guide residents to gradually adapt to modern rural community life. Focusing on the various elements of the whole life of the community, effectively integrating various resources, leading the participation of multiple social subjects, integrating various functions, and building a new type of intelligent service community for sustainable development. (2) The field and garden integration type should focus on building a multi-functional integration of modern rural residential demonstration sites and realizing the matching development of infrastructure construction and rural tourism. Based on ecologically sustainable agriculture, vertical integration will be realized by extending the industrial chain and developing the integration of planting (raising), processing and marketing. And horizontal integration will be realized by expanding the diversified value and developing a variety of business modes of agriculture, culture and tourism. (3) The road pointing type should focus on controlling the demolition and construction of homesteads around the road axis and delimiting the boundary line of the spatial layout of homesteads. Give full play to the advantages of road transportation, improve the rural logistics network, open up the e-commerce into the village, the express into the home of the "last kilometer", and drive industrial products to the countryside and agricultural products into the city. (4) The traditional residential type can be created to regional houses in northern Guizhou with the characteristics of cultural genes by carrying out rural homestead consolidation and other measures, and adding basic supporting facilities. Meanwhile, we should fully understand the local and national culture in traditional architecture, and realize the continuation and inheritance of characteristic architecture through innovative design and Internet platforms, online+ offline, architecture+ Internet+ culture and other modes.

 

Comment 5：More theoretical references on spatial planning and rural development are missing. The list of references in English of a transnational scope in this respect is so extensive that I leave to the authors' discretion the selection of some of them that, in their view, are more in accordance with what they deal with in their manuscript.

[Response] Thank you very much for correcting the inadequacy of the references in this paper. We have taken this comment throughout the text and added relevant international references as appropriate in the Introduction, Theory Construction, Case Study, and Discussion sections. Due to the large scope of changes involved in this comment, please forgive us for not being able to list them all here, but we have listed a few representative international references that have been added.

7. Albrechts, L. Shifts in Strategic Spatial Planning? Some Evidence from Europe and Australia. Environ Plan A2006, 38, 1149–1170, doi:10.1068/a37304.
8. Gkartzios, M.; Scott, M. Planning for Rural Housing in the Republic of Ireland: From National Spatial Strategies to Development Plans. Eur Plan Stud2009, 17, 1751–1780, doi:10.1080/09654310903322298.
9. Higgs, G.; White, S. Alternatives to Census-Based Indicators of Social Disadvantage in Rural Communities. Prog Plann2000, 53, 1–81, doi:10.1016/S0305-9006(99)00021-5.
10. Alaci, D.S.A. Regulating Urbanisation in Sub-Saharan Africa Through Cluster Settlements: Lessons for Urban Mangers in Ethiopia. Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management2010, 5, 20–34.
11. Lerise, F. Centralised Spatial Planning Practice and Land Development Realities in Rural Tanzania. Habitat Int2000, 24, 185–200, doi:10.1016/S0197-3975(99)00037-5.
12. Daniels, T.L.; Lapping, M.B. Small Town Triage: A Rural Settlement Policy for the American Midwest. J Rural Stud1987, 3, 273–280, doi:10.1016/0743-0167(87)90075-1.
13. Bj⊘rnå, H.; Aarsæther, N. Combating Depopulation in the Northern Periphery: Local Leadership Strategies in Two Norwegian Municipalities. Local Gov Stud2009, 35, 213–233, doi:10.1080/03003930902742997.
14. Townshend, V.N., Trevor Hart, Simin Davoudi, David Webb, Geoff Vigar, John Pendlebury, Tim Town and Country Planning in the UK; 15th ed.; Routledge: London, 2014; ISBN 978-1-315-74226-7.
15. Natsuda, K.; Igusa, K.; Wiboonpongse, A.; Thoburn, J. One Village One Product – Rural Development Strategy in Asia: The Case of OTOP in Thailand. Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d’études du développement2012, 33, 369–385, doi:10.1080/02255189.2012.715082.
16. Palmer, E. Planned Relocation of Severely Depopulated Rural Settlements: A Case Study from Japan. J Rural Stud1988, 4, 21–34, doi:10.1016/0743-0167(88)90076-9.

 

Comment 6： In addition to the criterion of taking into account the "Point-Line-Surface" Characteristics, as the authors do, there are other analytical strategies that have proven to be very useful for organizing and planning the development of rural communities. For example, the strategy consisting of systematizing the socioeconomic Weaknesses, Strengths, Threats and Opportunities of a given rural community in order to make precise diagnoses of its initial situation and, based on these analyses, of its capabilities and potentials for achieving development. The authors should at least mention some of these strategies.

[Response] Thank you very much for your valuable comments, which we couldn't agree more. Familiarizing ourselves with the relevant existing research results is the key to seeking theoretical breakthroughs and self-assessment. To this end, we have supplemented the research base in the following aspects. First, in the introduction section, we have briefly described the relevant international cases and their strategic points; Second, in the discussion section, we have discussed the complementary possibilities of analytical models, such as SWOT, and the "point-line-surface" framework, as well as the direction of future integration. The revisions are concentrated in lines 53-73 and 644-667, which are summarized below:

Lines 53-73

1. Introduction

......

Land issues can be harnessed to improve rural lives and economies [1,6], particularly through spatial planning and reconfiguration, land use restructuring and community design. Similar to Contemporary European Union (EU) and Pan-European policies stress the importance of spatial planning for the long-term sustainability of regions [7], many countries and regions have carried out many theoretical and practical explorations on rural spatial planning and community renovation. Particularly, the common rural settlement pattern in many developing countries is dispersion [8], which tends to be one of the major contributing factors to rural disadvantage and under-development [9]. Therefore, Concentrated residential planning as a rural development approach has been introduced around the world to reverse rural recession under urbanization and cope with rural settlement dispersion [10]. For example, As early as the 1960s, the Tanzanian government developed spatial plans for clustering several residential clusters or hamlets surrounding an area in which farms were to be established, with Each cluster of houses accommodating about 60 families in plots of about half an acre each, making four clusters as a full-fledged settlement [11]. Moreover, the UK, the former Soviet Union, Japan, the USA, South Africa, Thailand and other countries had also carried out key settlement construction or settlement rationalisation projects, with ambitious schemes to reorganise the dispersed settlement pattern, modernise the infrastructures, diversify the economy and slow the depopulation in rural areas [12–17]. And these experiences have effectively demonstrated the above viewpoint.

Lines 644-667

4. Discussions

......Facing this complex background of global change, future research should focus on the following aspects. 1) Integration of multidisciplinary theories to continually enrich the theory of "point-line-surface" and provide new perspectives for the spatial planning and utilization of regional settlements. "Point-line-surface" is a theoretical framework characterized by openness, dynamism and inclusiveness, which should not remain unchanged, but continuously update and improve the theoretical framework system through the continuous incorporation and integration of other proven effective theories and strategies, in order to satisfy the theoretical innovation needs raised by socio-economic changes. For example, the significant role of the "SWOT" framework for regional spatial planning has been widely confirmed [62–64]. Therefore, it seems to be a feasible and innovative program to enrich the evaluation index system, development status and obstacle factors from four aspects of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Similarly, concepts and theories such as resilience [65], rurality [66], and center-periphery [67] should also be considered and integrated into the "point-line-surface" framework, so as to better provide theoretical support for evaluating and formulating regional spatial planning strategies. 2) Explore and expand the application scope and scenarios of the "point-line-surface" framework, and evaluate its environmental and economic effects and social response behavior. The theoretical framework of "point-line-surface" should start from serving practice, and its scope of application should be extended from the spatial layout of urban and rural settlements to the fields of regional industrial layout, infrastructure construction and territorial spatial planning, etc. However, the application issues of "point-line-surface" in different fields such as obstacles, scenario simulation and public response need to be studied in depth.

 

Comment 7：In line 491 and following it says: "Future research should deepen the research from the aspects of scale, method and strategy, and focus on analyzing the complex characteristics of rural settlements with multi-connotation, multi-scale and multi-factor." I suggest to the authors to avoid using expressions of this type, which are not easily understood by a large public of high culture, but not necessarily expert in these issues, among which this article should aspire to be disseminated to achieve the impact it deserves.

[Response] Thank you very much, and we agree with your comments, which have a significant effect on improving the dissemination of the article. In accordance with your comments, we have deleted the content after line 491 in the first draft, and proposed a new research outlook in terms of how to deepen the theoretical exploration and practical application of the "Point-Line-Surface" framework. The revised part focuses on lines 606-667, and the revised contents are as follows:

4. Discussions

United Nations "Agenda 21" points out that many mountain areas around the world are facing environmental degradation, and, the sustainable development of mountainous areas is more important and urgent than ever [61]. Homestead, as the core component of the rural regional system in mountainous areas, has a good spatial development trend that can open the "meridian blockage" of the rural regional system and promote the "blood circulation" between the various elements in the system, which is an important path to solve the practical problems of empty waste, disorderly expansion, excessive area, and scattered layout of rural settlements in mountainous areas. Under this condition, the "point-line-surface" framework constructed in this study essentially reveals the common linear characteristics of the spatial evolution and layout of urban and rural settlements, which conforms to the general law of the development of urban and rural settlements in the global mountainous areas. To a certain extent, it breaks through the shackles of administrative boundaries, provides a new perspective for the optimization of international urban and rural settlements, and is of great significance for enriching the theoretical system of international rural spatial governance. In addition, although the study area focuses on a specific Chinese village, the typical representativeness of this case village in terms of natural conditions, industrial structure and living space makes it expected to bring useful reference value to the spatial reconstruction of the same type of villages in other countries around the world (especially mountainous villages). However, this study still has the following limitations to be broken through. Firstly, the conceptual connotation and model framework of "point-line-surface" still need to be further deepened. This paper focuses more on case description and analysis, failing to deeply analyze the connotation and extension, morphological function, driving factors and operational logic of "point", "line" and '"surface" at different scales. Therefore, how to continuously improve the "point-line-surface" model on this basis will become the focus of subsequent research work. Secondly, this study only uses the survey data of a single year to analyze the "point-line-surface" characteristics of rural housing in the case village and lacks long-term longitudinal analysis, which makes it difficult to grasp the long-term change characteristics of the rural homesteads at the micro level, especially how the internal structure and function of the rural homesteads change with the social and economic development.

With the strengthening of the interaction between urban and rural elements in the new era and the continuous drastic changes in the rural territorial system, the spatial optimization of rural settlements in mountainous regions not only undertakes a variety of policy management objectives from top to bottom, but also appeals to multiple utilization demands from bottom to top. So how to build a sustainable spatial equilibrium pattern of settlements under the influence of complex variables has become the key to revitalizing the world’s countryside. Facing this complex background of global change, future research should focus on the following aspects. 1) Integration of multidisciplinary theories to continually enrich the theory of "point-line-surface" and provide new perspectives for the spatial planning and utilization of regional settlements. "Point-line-surface" is a theoretical framework characterized by openness, dynamism and inclusiveness, which should not remain unchanged, but continuously update and improve the theoretical framework system through the continuous incorporation and integration of other proven effective theories and strategies, in order to satisfy the theoretical innovation needs raised by socio-economic changes. For example, the significant role of the "SWOT" framework for regional spatial planning has been widely confirmed [62–64]. Therefore, it seems to be a feasible and innovative program to enrich the evaluation index system, development status and obstacle factors from four aspects of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Similarly, concepts and theories such as resilience [65], rurality [66], and center-periphery [67] should also be considered and integrated into the "point-line-surface" framework, so as to better provide theoretical support for evaluating and formulating regional spatial planning strategies. 2) Explore and expand the application scope and scenarios of the "point-line-surface" framework, and evaluate its environmental and economic effects and social response behavior. The theoretical framework of "point-line-surface" should start from serving practice, and its scope of application should be extended from the spatial layout of urban and rural settlements to the fields of regional industrial layout, infrastructure construction and territorial spatial planning, etc. However, the application issues of "point-line-surface" in different fields such as obstacles, scenario simulation and public response need to be studied in depth.

 

Comment 8：Table 2 could and should be explained in greater depth and, above all, the consequences for development that can be derived from the indices summarized in it should be explained in clearer language for both rural policy makers and other experts and members of society interested in these issues.

[Response] Thank you for your useful suggestions. Based on your comments, we have reorganized and in-depth analyzed Table 2, and supplemented some important and interesting information found from it. The revised part focuses on 247-262 lines, and the specific content after modification is:

2.3.1. Measurement of development capacity of "point"

......In-depth analysis of the index weight is conducive to clarifying the value, relative importance and proportion of each specific index in the development process of farmers' homesteads. Specifically (Table 2), the comprehensive impact of public service system and farmers' characteristics on the spatial change of rural homesteads is as high as 40.03%, in which villagers are especially concerned about the degree of improvement of public utility services and commercial facilities in the vicinity of the housing (the cumulative proportion of the two indicators is 32.1%). In addition, the influence of diversity of farmers' livelihood and household income on rural homesteads has continued to increase, and the willingness of farmers to renovate is the smallest influence on the change of homesteads. This is mainly because farmers' willingness is susceptible to fluctuations in income, livelihood, social values and policy changes, among other factors. It can be found that, at the village scale, accelerating the construction of a sound network system of public service facilities, improving the rural human settlement environment system, promoting farmers' diversified livelihood methods, and ensuring farmers' income sources have become the key policy fulcrum to promote the spatial reconstruction of rural residential land.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx