Editorial: land, estate information, analysis and spatial representations

As previously noted, Territorio Italia is preparing to investigate issues that we believe are highly contemporary and important for our nation's future. Divestment of public property and real estate taxation - with all of the social, economic and political implications that these issues entail – are now at the fore. However, both topics are considered exclusively in terms of their potential to increase public revenues and trigger long-awaited economic recovery. In the last issue, we saw how, de facto, public assets represent a low level of liquidity due to the crisis in the housing market. In particular, we also saw that if our nation's historic, architectural and environmental assets were to be systematically improved, they could become concrete economic resources and important factors in local development.

No less important than the divestment of public property is the issue of real estate taxation, which, when faced in a reductive way only for purposes of imposing IMU (the recent Italian property tax), implies problems of equity. The rate increase for the calculation of IMU has come about, in fact, by using rents and asset values that have nothing to do with real income and market values and, therefore, with the quality of the basic assets: this engenders patent inequity among citizens in the same city or in different geographic areas. IMU has underlined the urgency for reform in the land registration system, already provided for in the "Mandate to the Government laying down provisions for a fairer tax system" contained in the Draft Law dating from June 15, 2012, whose Article 2 establishes its principles.

The review of current cadastral values is certainly an opportunity to rethink the role of the Cadastre, whose databases should become the "heart" of the Land Information System (LIS) in order to facilitate the long-awaited rationalization of the public administration and, in particular, of those organizations and institutions charged with regional protection and management for which taxation is an important component.

The topic of real estate taxation cannot be limited to IMU, and should explore highly interconnected practices such as taxation in general, local finance, decentralization of municipalities and federalism itself; these aspects should be considered not only in reference to central and local governments, but also in relation to regional policy and management. The abolition of ICI (a previous real estate tax) compelled many municipalities to meet their financial needs by implementing regional marketing policies that were overly extreme in terms of their scale and consumption of land; such policies were in turn stimulated by the artificial growth of the real estate market. Today's crisis came into play after a period of surprising growth in property values as well as numbers of sales, largely supported by the low cost of money.

Over the past twenty years, many large and small municipalities approved plans and projects; but these were out of scale in relation to any real demand. These plans and projects produced today's oversupply in the housing market which was worsened by the simultaneous decrease in demand caused by the crisis in the real economy and the lack of availability of credit to households and businesses. Moreover, we must not forget that at the origins of today’s crisis were slack international finance regulations, sub-prime mortgages, and toxic assets supporting real estate transactions that were too large and bore high specific and systemic risk.

To demonstrate the journal's interest in our nation's most current topics on a European scale (at the very least), this issue opens with a paper by Ferrante and Garnero, who examine cadastral reform and the revision of cadastral values, two crucial topics for the Agenzia delle Entrate (Revenue Agency), both of which require specific studies to create fruitful exchanges between scientific research and the public administrations within a field of common experimentation. Such work is important for the university system and the contribution it can make during this sensitive period for our country.

The subject of an innovative cadastre in its very conception opens to numerous explorations all of which are relevant to our editorial line. The journal has already published, and will continue to be interested in, articles on LIS in relation to European directives, insofar as "land" databases constitute the "foundation" for regional management and governance, which, of course, include fiscal policy. The public administration's Big Data, thanks to geotagging and interoperability, can expand opportunities for learning and require new models of spatial analysis no longer based on the establishment of statistically significant samples and statistical inference. These have the potential to introduce major discontinuity with today's procedures, precisely regarding scientific research.

Interoperability between databases consisting of entire populations, if access is permitted, is an important opportunity that could be explored in the future in all of its potential and dimensions, even in relation to the volume and variety of data no longer limited to legacy systems (data sets, data in text form, audio, video, streaming from web sites and social networks, sensors, etc.). The ability to integrate and process data and information coming from a variety of sources both within and outside the government using new infrastructure and application models deriving from ICT should still be pursued; however this integration already finds its essential basis in the current reform of the cadastre system in light of the progress made by the Agenzia del Territorio in recent decades.

Flavio Celestino Ferrante and Gabriele Garnero highlight the wealth of information managed by the Agenzia through the implementation of an Integrated Registry on a geographical basis, which, with Web-GIS technology, enables the correlation of cadastral mapping with cadastral systems, using data from Real Estate Publicity and the Real Estate Market Observatory. The authors focus their attention on the mapping system. On the one hand, they explore automated and standardized updating procedures, data consistency, and map accuracy. On the other, they consider the integration of the cartographic system with high-resolution digital orthoimagery and road graphs, starting from current applications associated with Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth, even considering the possibility of acquiring images with oblique sensors. There is no doubt that the ability to acquire and integrate images and data in an automated way and to identify virtual models for performing observations and measurements might simplify the revision of cadastral values and open to integration with municipal databases for land management and administrative procedures.

The article by Giuseppe Borruso and Beniamino Murgante analyzing migration is of special interest, not only in terms of the results achieved in the field but also in relation to the application of spatial analysis (a major field of interest for the journal) insofar as it can enable the simultaneous analysis of information both in relation to spatial components as well as their attributes. Spatial autocorrelation techniques allow the study of the intensity of phenomena within certain geographical areas, comparing their relationship and influence with those nearby. In particular, the authors use LISA (Local Indicators of Spatial Association) to measure the degree of spatial correlation between territorial units and the elements that surround them, in order to identify spatial groupings (or clusters) as well. It should be noted that the application of LISA algorithms to foreign residents in Italy on a municipal basis has produced important results in the analyses of migration phenomenon, enabling the perception of distribution patterns that have not been immediately visible. From this point of view, the journal would like to underline its interest not only in purely experimental analysis techniques but also in the results that these techniques can achieve. It is hardly necessary to point out the potential role that LISA indicators can play in the spatial analysis of real estate markets and in the study of the relationships between location variables and variables intrinsic to specific building units.

Luisa Carbone takes us back to the utility of GIS in planning and analysis to demonstrate how an urban model can be considered rhizomatic, referring to an organizational model taken from biology and the structure of certain organisms. This model, already applied and verified in numerous fields, especially sociology and economics, was also tested on the outskirts of Tor Vergata with the use of GIS technology; the area was thought to resemble a biological structure, interspersed with nodes triggering other ramifications. In fact, the term rhizomatic is used to describe Tor Vergata as an organizational phenomena consisting of nodes and connections which are in continuous evolution, and which are part of sets as well completely independent from them. Cities and regions might demonstrate rhizomatic dynamics when in their organizations are made up of nodes and connections in constant transformation and becoming. The rhizomatic and virtual method of performative mapping supported by GIS lets the author propose Tor Vergata as a "place" and not as a marginal periphery, reinterpreting its transformations.

The article by Chiabrando, Costamagma and Spanò explores the correlation of images and the generation of 3D models, with applications in the field of Cultural Heritage. The paper is of particular interest because this topic lends itself to be evaluated with respect to the renewal of the Land Registry in relation to possible survey operations in regional and urban areas, for which satellite or aircraft data processing procedures have already been developed. The demand for digital surveys and the implementation of detailed three-dimensional models is discussed by the authors both in terms of instruments using active and passive sensors, as well as in terms of methods of image correlation which constitute matching strategies with algorithms aimed at resolving specific applicative problems. The authors present area-based matching trials and feature-based matching experiences in the fields of archeology and architecture.

Ana Maria De La Encarnacion Valcarel addresses the issue of land evaluation in rural Spain in light of the evolution of the country's legal system and, in particular, after the entry into force of the Land Law of 2007 and its subsequent adaptation to Royal Legislative Decree of 2008. The article considers the implications of the Spanish legal system in land use planning, building development and rural land evaluation procedures - a discussion similar to the one that has taken place in Italy regarding compensation and procedures for compulsory purchase. In particular, the author calls into question the principle stating that planned development rights should not be taken into account in the evaluation of rural land. In support of the view taken by the author, we recall the principles that have historically guided the appraisal discipline in Italy and valuation models popular in Europe, which assess property in relation to its potential transformation, taking into account planning legislation and using the discounted cash flow method, which is considered more effective than the market approach itself.

Gianluigi De Mare, Antonio Nesticò and Ciro Amato consider regulatory, case law and assessment issues in the expropriation of private property for reasons of public utility. The authors analyze the 2003 Expropriation Law and focus on the participatory procedures introduced with the aim of fostering greater involvement of citizens being expropriated. Ten years after the law's introduction, the authors explore the effectiveness of the Technical College established in Article 21, which had the task of facilitating procedures and rationalizing the estimates of values for compensating the property sacrificed due to overriding public interest. The authors highlight the procedure's premises and critical aspects, the rules of arbitration as an alternative means of dispute resolution, and the role of expert studies and appraisals, offering a logical/estimate model of the Technical College in order to improve its transparency as well as the feasibility of the final value estimated for compensation.

Rocco Curto