How Does the Living Street Environment in the Old Urban Districts Affect Walking Behavior? A General Multi-Factor Framework

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for an interesting paper considering matters relating to walkability in a city with a cold climate. Your study is well planned and makes a valuable contribution to encouraging more walking as opposed to use of motor vehicles. This will no doubt have a positive impact on community health.

The quality of th English language is quite good with a few fairly minor issues in sentence structure that I am sure the technical editors can manage.

Author Response

Comments：Thank you for an interesting paper considering matters relating to walkability in a city with a cold climate. Your study is well planned and makes a valuable contribution to encouraging more walking as opposed to use of motor vehicles. This will no doubt have a positive impact on community health.

Reply: We would like to thank you for the encouraging comments. We have studied shortcomings carefully and have made corrections which we hope meet with approval.

 

The comment with respect to the English language.

The quality of the English language is quite good with a few fairly minor issues in sentence structure that I am sure the technical editors can manage.

Reply: Thanks for your suggestion. We have carefully polished up the English language used in our manuscript with the help of some professionals in English presentation and adjusted inappropriate sentence structures.

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors

the manuscript is centered on a topic of great current scientific interest.

The manuscript has some grammatical errors and typos

We recommend

1) better underline the novelty of the research in the introductory part

2) insert a greater comment accompanying figure 1 making it even more readable (for example by increasing the height of the text)

3) insert the figures at the end of the sentence (see error in figure 1)

4) make the title more captivating by proposing a new one

5) all acronyms must be inserted in extended form when they appear for the first time in the text

6) a major comment between figures 2 and 3 will be inserted to correlate them as well as the source of the maps represented in the various figures present in the manuscript

7) a linking comment between tables 2 and 3

8) a greater comment on the concept of walkability and accessibility in the introductory part could make it easier to read the manuscript and integrate it with sustainability and resilience issues. The reading of the following works is recommended

1) Annunziata, A., & Garau, C. (2020). A literature review on walkability and its theoretical framework. Emerging perspectives for research developments. In Computational Science and Its Applications–ICCSA 2020: 20th International Conference, Cagliari, Italy, July 1–4, 2020, Proceedings, Part VII 20 (pp. 422-437). Springer International Publishing.

2) Campisi, T., Basbas, S., Tesoriere, G., Trouva, M., Papas, T., & Mrak, I. (2020). How to create walking friendly cities. a multi-criteria analysis of the central open market area of rijeka. Sustainability, 12(22), 9470.

3) Russo, A., Campisi, T., Tesoriere, G., Annunziata, A., & Garau, C. (2022, July). Accessibility and Mobility in the Small Mountain Municipality of Zafferana Etnea (Sicily): Coupling of Walkability Assessment and Space Syntax. In International conference on computational science and its applications (pp. 338-352). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

 

Finally, it is advisable to underline the replicability of the methodology adopted and the limitations of the research and also to check that the format of the list of references is in accordance with the template of the journal

Moderate editing of English language required

Author Response

Comments: Dear authors, the manuscript is centered on a topic of great current scientific interest. The manuscript has some grammatical errors and typos. We recommend.

Reply: Thank you！Our deepest gratitude goes to you for your careful work and thoughtful suggestions that have helped improve this manuscript substantially. Meanwhile, we are very sorry for our typos and grammatical errors in this manuscript. In the new version, we have corrected the grammatical errors and typos and carefully revised the manuscript according to all your comments. 

 

1.  better underline the novelty of the research in the introductory part

Reply: Thank you for this constructive suggestion. As the reviewer suggested, in the new version, we have highlighted the novelty of the research in the last paragraph of the Section Introduction. Summarily, the modifications are as follows:

• We have emphasized the general multi-element framework and explained the advantages and features of the framework.
• We have highlighted the advantages of the proposed 4D index evaluation method, and added its applicability and contribution.
• We have highlighted the description ofthe multi-source data analysis database established by integrating subjective and objective data, aiming to discard the one-sided analysis defect due to the single dimension assessment.

 

2. insert a greater comment accompanying figure 1 making it even more readable (for example by increasing the height of the text)

Reply: Thanks for your comment. According to this comment, in the new version, we have explained the Figure 1 in more detail in the Section Materials and methods of the manuscript to make it more readable. In addition, Figure 1 has been slightly enlarged while ensuring the structure is neat and beautiful. We have improved the height of the text as much as possible, so that they can still clear when reading. We hope that these approaches will make the Figure 1 clearer and readable. 

 

3. insert the figures at the end of the sentence (see error in figure 1)

Reply: Thanks to the reviewer for this suggestion. In the new version of the manuscript, we have checked all the figures and inserted them at the end of the sentence. 

 

4. make the title more captivating by proposing a new one

Reply: Thank the reviewers for this constructive suggestion. In the new manuscript, we have revised the new title and replaced the original “Quantification of the Influence of Street Level Environmental Factors on Walking Behavior: A General Multi-Factor Framework” with “How does the living street environment in the old urban districts affect walking behavior: A General Multi-Factor Framework”.

5. all acronyms must be inserted in extended form when they appear for the first time in the text

Reply: Thank you very much for your careful comment. As the reviewer said, the first appearance of the acronym may mislead readers so that they can not better understand its meaning. Hence, in the new version we have changed all acronyms to ensure that they are inserted in extended form when they first appear, such as POI.

 

6. a major comment between figures 2 and 3 will be inserted to correlate them as well as the source of the maps represented in the various figures present in the manuscript

Reply: Thanks to the reviewer for this suggestion. We have rewritten the Section Area scope and object selection and added the comments between Figures 2 and 3 to clarify their relationship. First, we have explained the regions represented by the different serial numbers in Figure 2. Then, we have added the length information corresponding to these streets by referring to the serial numbers in Figure 2 to further highlight the correlation. Last but not least, we have added the reasons why these streets are representative and introduced the criteria and sources for the definition of each area. 

 

7. a linking comment between tables 2 and 3

Reply: Thanks to the reviewers for this meaningful suggestion. We have added the linked comments between Tables 2 and 3 in Section Analysis of socio-demographic characteristics variables in the new version of the manuscript.

 

8. a greater comment on the concept of walkability and accessibility in the introductory part could make it easier to read the manuscript and integrate it with sustainability and resilienceissues. The reading of the following works is recommended

[1]Annunziata, A., & Garau, C. (2020). A literature review on walkability and its theoretical framework. Emerging perspectives for research developments. In Computational Science and Its Applications–ICCSA 2020: 20th International Conference, Cagliari, Italy, July 1–4, 2020, Proceedings, Part VII 20(pp. 422-437). Springer International Publishing.

[2]Campisi, T., Basbas, S., Tesoriere, G., Trouva, M., Papas, T., & Mrak, I. (2020). How to create walking friendly cities. a multi-criteria analysis of the central open market area of rijeka. Sustainability, 12(22), 9470.

[3]Russo, A., Campisi, T., Tesoriere, G., Annunziata, A., & Garau, C. (2022, July). Accessibility and Mobility in the Small Mountain Municipality of Zafferana Etnea (Sicily): Coupling of Walkability Assessment and Space Syntax. In International conference on computational science and its applications(pp. 338-352). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Reply: We thank the reviewers for these interesting and valuable references. Considering the suggestion of the reviewer, we have studied these three references carefully. In the new version, the references [1], [2], and [3] are cited as [3], [16], and [10], respectively. In addition, we have included a more comprehensive description of walkability and accessibility in the Section Introduction to the manuscript, and added an elaboration that incorporates the sustainability and resilience issues. We hope that these changes will further improve the quality of the paper.

 

9. Finally, it is advisable to underline the replicability of the methodology adopted and the limitations of the research and also to check that the format of the list of references is in accordance with the template of the journal

Reply: Thank you for this constructive suggestion. As suggested by the reviewer, we should emphasize the replicability of the methodology adopted and the limitations of the research. In the new version, on the one hand, we have elaborated in Section Introduction on the replicability of the methodology adopted in this research. On the other hand, we have enriched Section Conclusion and pointed out the limitations of this study in a more comprehensive manner, which can not only serve as a guide for future work, but also help other researchers to carry out more in-depth studies of related theories. In addition, we have carefully checked the format of the reference list to ensure consistency with the journal template. 

 

The comment with respect to the English language.

Reply: Thanks for your suggestion. We have carefully polished up the English language used in our manuscript with the help of some professionals in English presentation.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have reviewed the manuscript entitled “Quantification of the Influence of Street-Level Environmental Factors on Walking Behavior: A General Multi-Factor Framework”. The study addresses an important and practical aspect of urban planning – pedestrian behavior within street environments. The proposed framework for assessing pedestrian walking times using multivariate indices is a significant contribution. The integration of measured data and questionnaire surveys enhances the credibility of the findings.

 

Areas for Improvement:

01.  While the paper highlights the study's contributions, further discussion on the implications of the findings in the context of existing literature could enrich the discussion.

02.  The limitations of the study, such as the data constraints for classifying pedestrian behavior, could be elaborated upon to provide a comprehensive perspective.

03.  The author can further discuss about the implications for urban design and policy-making, providing practical guidance for practitioners.

04.  Another important aspect to consider is the transferability of the study's outcomes. It would be valuable for the authors to elaborate on how the suggested methodology for measuring pedestrian activity could be applied to various locations or countries in future investigations. Exploring the international context, socio-demographic characteristics, and methodologies would provide a broader perspective and make the research more appealing to a wider range of readers.

 

 Please review the English for typos, grammar, and overly complex sentences. (line 355: distircts --> districts)

 

Author Response

I have reviewed the manuscript entitled “Quantification of the Influence of Street-Level Environmental Factors on Walking Behavior: A General Multi-Factor Framework”. The study addresses an important and practical aspect of urban planning – pedestrian behavior within street environments. The proposed framework for assessing pedestrian walking times using multivariate indices is a significant contribution. The integration of measured data and questionnaire surveys enhances the credibility of the findings.

Reply: Thank you! Our deepest gratitude goes to you for your careful work and thoughtful suggestions that have helped improve this manuscript substantially. We have carefully revised the manuscript according to all your comments.

 

1. While the paper highlights the study's contributions, further discussion on the implications of the findings in the context of existing literature could enrich the discussion.

Reply: Thank you for this constructive suggestion. As suggested by the reviewers, in the new version of the manuscript, we have further highlighted the implications of the findings. First, we have commented more on the concepts of walkability and accessibility, established the connection between them and sustainability as well as the results of our study. Second, we have reorganized the first two paragraphs of the Section Introduction and rewrote the last two paragraphs to emphasize the contribution and implications of our research results compared with the existing literature. Finally, we have added a description of the extensibility of the findings and its potential for urban decision makers in the Section Conclusion. We hope that these changes will further improve the quality of the paper.

 

2. The limitations of the study, such as the data constraints for classifyingpedestrian behavior, could be elaborated upon to provide a comprehensive perspective.

Reply: Thanks to the reviewer for this suggestion which is very meaningful. It is crucial to elaborate the limitations of the study. In the new version, we have reorganized Section Conclusion to complement the limitations of studying categories such as pedestrian behavior, walking behavior, and street type due to the limited access to data. In addition, we have stated the focus of our next research and the goals of our expected future research, which we hope will be able to provide a comprehensive research perspective. 

 

3. The author can further discuss about the implications for urban design and policy-making, providing practical guidance for practitioners.

Reply: Thank you very much. We have added a further discussion of implications for urban design and policy-making in the Section Conclusion of the manuscript, which is expected to provide practical guidance for future researchers.  

 

4. Another important aspect to consider is the transferability of the study's outcomes. It would be valuable for the authors to elaborate on how the suggested methodology for measuring pedestrian activity could be applied to various locations or countries in future investigations. Exploring the international context, socio-demographic characteristics, and methodologies would provide a broader perspective and make the research more appealing to a wider range of readers.

Reply: Thanks to the reviewer for this suggestion. In fact, the aim of this paper is to propose a framework to quantify the impact of street environment on walking for high-latitude cities especially the old urban districts, in order to encourage more walking as opposed to use of motor vehicles. Hence, as suggested by the reviewer, we should emphasize the transferability of the research. In the new version, on the one hand, we have elaborated on the transferability of the method proposed in this paper in Section Introduction and Section Conclusion. On the other hand, we have enriched the Section Introduction and Section Conclusion and point out the limitations of this study. The purpose of this is to give other inquirers an idea of what improvements need to be made when they need to apply our method to different locations or countries. In addition, we have added statements about a broader perspective in the Section Conclusion, which can not only serve as a guide for future work, but also provide more topics for exploring socio-demographic characteristics and methodologies.

 

The comment with respect to the English language.

Please review the English for typos, grammar, and overly complex sentences. (line 355: distircts --> districts)

Reply: Thanks for your suggestion. We are very sorry for our typos in this manuscript. We have carefully checked the manuscript for similar errors and corrected them, and at the same time, with the help of some English expression professionals, carefully polished the English language used in our manuscript.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript still has some grammatical errors and typos. It is advisable to start the paragraph 'materials and methods' with some initial sentences before figure 1 . Identically for figure 2

Some titles are incorrectly justified and in some cases the titles of the main paragraphs are not in bold type 

 Once this has been corrected, the paper will be eligible for publication. 

Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

1. The manuscript still has some grammatical errors and typos. It is advisable to start the paragraph 'materials and methods' with some initial sentences before figure 1 . Identically for figure 2.
Reply：
Thanks for your suggestion. With the help of English expression professionals, we have adjusted the typos and sentences with grammatical errors in the manuscript. In addition, some initial sentences have been added before Figure 1 and Figure 2. All modifications have been highlighted in a yellow background in the new version of the manuscript. 
2. Some titles are incorrectly justified and in some cases the titles of the main paragraphs are not in bold type. 
Reply:
Thank you very much for your careful comment. According to the suggestions of the reviewer, we have re-downloaded the latest Latex template from the official website to update our manuscript, and have checked the format of the titles with reference to the latest published articles in the journal.