Modern Estate Research Articles

Space Syntax with Logic Programming: An Application to a Modern Estate

Space syntax is a set of theories and techniques for analysing urban settlements and buildings. Here, we propose a new approach to perform syntactic analyses that requires only the declaration in a computer program of the connections between axial lines or convex spaces using Prolog, a logic programming language concerned with artificial intelligence. With this new tool, we found that the deep tree nature of modern estates can be mitigated with a concentric structure similar to the famous Bororo village. In fact, Portela, a high-rise settlement near Lisbon (Portugal), is structured around a central open space (green park) equipped with noninterchangeable facilities (mall, sports centre and church), which are highly synchronised with the surrounding buildings (towers and blocks). The transpatial relations between housing estates and the central zone are maximised either by a distributive ringy network or by a smart grid of pedestrian paths. The result is a compact and integrated settlement with a strong identity and sense of belonging. Nevertheless, this kind of concentric dual system is potentially unstable, a problem that was minimised by forcing a clear opposition with a popular neighbourhood at Portela’s vicinity. With this case study, we show how logic programming is a useful tool to describe the patterns of discrete systems as social knowables due to its declarative nature. In fact, a Prolog program represents a certain amount of knowledge, namely, concerned with the structure of an urban settlement (or building), which could be used to answer queries about the social and economic consequences of certain spatial designs.

Modern estates and the production of Lisbon’s suburbs: from the planned to the lived neighbourhood

Alto da Barra and Portela are two modern estates designed by the same architect and located on two sides of the periphery of Lisbon: the west side, Costa do Sol, where the river meets the Atlantic and the east, with no label, which is upstream. The estates were planned and built in the same period (1960s to 1970s), the height of Lisbon’s urban development. This article presents a comparative analysis of these estates: their plans, implementation, social appropriation and resilience, by exploring the sociological profile and place-attachment perceptions of their inhabitants. The analysis also contextualises the development of the estates within the consolidation of these two quite different Lisbon peripheries: the west side traditionally highly valued in relation to the east. An intensive methodology was developed—case studies of the two estates—combining quantitative (survey, inter-census analysis) and qualitative (interviews and documentary analysis) methods. In addition to the differences between the two estates, which were largely due to their specificities in terms of geographic location and status, both reveal significant feelings of place-attachment and a rejection of the suburbia label.

Ghosts of 1932: The Lost History of Estate and Gift Taxation

In 1932, the United States confronted a bleak economic landscape. Amid the financial carnage caused by the 1929 stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression, economic activity had ground to a halt, tax revenues had plunged, and the nation’s debt had soared. The declining government revenues and soaring debt threatened both the viability of American industry and the stability of the nation’s credit rating. Congress took bold action that year, enacting a massive tax bill (“the Revenue Act of 1932”) designed to balance the federal budget without further stifling economic growth.As has been true through nearly a century of tax legislation, Congress included estate and gift taxes as a component of the Revenue Act of 1932. The architects of the 1932 estate and gift tax provisions made a number of crucial legislative choices that fateful year, implicating issues of tax policy that remain as relevant today as they were some eighty years ago. Yet, histories of American taxation typically devote frustratingly little analysis to the specific estate and gift tax provisions included in the Revenue Act of 1932. As a result, despite their continued relevance, the details of key decisions, and the motivations of those who made them, effectively have been lost to history.In this paper, I seek to reclaim this lost history of estate and gift taxation. While the ensuing analysis certainly will enable us to more fully appreciate the events of 1932 and evaluate the actions Congress took in that fateful year, my inquiry is not of mere historical interest. Rather, the choices made in 1932 have helped shape the fundamental structure of U.S. estate and gift taxation for nearly eight decades, including our modern estate and gift tax code. Accordingly, understanding the events of 1932 can help us to understand why our estate and gift taxes operate the way they do as well as help inform future debate about the optimal structure of our wealth transfer tax system.

Afterlife of the Death Tax

More than a century ago, Congress enacted the modern estate tax to help pay for World War I. Unlike previous iterations of the estate tax, though, this one outlived the war and accumulated additional goals beyond merely raising revenue. The estate tax helped ensure the progressivity of the tax system as a whole, and it limited the hereditary ability to accumulate wealth. This modern estate tax almost instantly met with opposition, though. The opposition has never been sufficient to entirely eliminate the estate tax, but it has severely weakened its ability to raise revenue and to prevent the accumulation of wealth. As a result, today’s estate tax is functionally a zombie: it accounts for less than one percent of federal revenues and does little to prevent the accumulation of wealth among a small group of citizens. The estate tax largely serves to evoke fear and costly tax planning, but it only manages to bite the largest and slowest estates. Although the estate tax has proven hard to kill, it is time for Congress to end it definitively, and transfer its functions as revenue-raiser and impediment to wealth accumulation to the income tax. To effect that transfer, Congress needs to do three things: first, it should treat death as a realization event, and tax estates on their assets’ unrealized appreciation. Second, it should treat the receipt of an inheritance as gross income in the hands of heirs, thereby requiring heirs to pay income tax on their inheritance. Third, Congress should eliminate the step-up in basis, and instead assign basis to inherited property under ordinary basis rules. By making these three changes, Congress can put to rest the zombie estate tax, while, at the same time, revivifying taxation at death.

Wealth and inheritance in Britain from 1896 to the present

Personal wealth has grown since the 1970s twice as fast in real terms as national income. Has this rise in the wealth-income ratio led to a corresponding increase in the wealth being passed on from one generation to the next? Are we returning to the levels of inheritance found in the 19th century? The aim of this paper is to construct UK evidence on the extent of the transmission of wealth in the form of estates and gifts inter vivos. It takes a long-run view of inheritance, starting from 1896, when the modern Estate Duty was introduced, and exploits the extensive estate data published over the years. Construction of a long-run time series for more than a century is challenging, and there are important limitations. The resulting time-series demonstrates the major importance of inheritance in the UK before the First World War, when the total transmitted wealth represented some 20 per cent of net national income. In the inter-war period, the total was around 15 per cent, falling to some 10 per cent after the Second World War, and then falling further to below 5 per cent in the late 1970s. Since then, there has indeed been an upturn: a rise from 4.8 per cent in 1977 to 8.2 per cent in 2006. This increase was more or less in line with the increase in personal wealth, and has to be interpreted in the light of the changing net worth of the corporate and public sectors of the economy.

Forging parliamentary space: revolutionary assemblies in New Granada and Spain, 1810–31

SUMMARYThis article analyses the making of space in modern parliamentarism from a transatlantic perspective. By considering the case studies of New Granada and Spain between 1810 and 1831, this article focuses on the differences in shaping parliamentary space during the revolutionary period in Europe and the Americas. This study considers the multiplicity of spaces in the construction of parliaments as modern institutions. It also discusses the influences of early modern estate parliaments in the construction of new institutional space in revolutionary times. In the process, several elements will be considered, such as the choice of the town where parliaments convene and the internal organization of the assembly hall. It is argued that, despite similar issues beyond the construction of a new institution, the influence of the king’s presence in Spain led to a different shape of internal parliamentary space compared to New Granada. Such an approach makes an original contribution to the debates on the transformation of sovereignty during this period and it therefore reshapes the interpretation of the revolutionary process from a cultural perspective.

Surrounded by the sea: re-investigating the villa maritima del Capo di Sorrento. Interim report

A traveler passing by ship in front of the peninsula during the 1st c. A.D. would have marveled at a continuous chain of private villas lining the coast (figs. 1-2). Although evidence of these villas survives to the present day, our knowledge is mostly fragmentary due to the fact that many are buried beneath modern estates or have been swallowed by the sea. Between the village of Aequa (near Vico Equense) and the far side of the Sorrentine peninsula with its adjoining islets a total of 24 ruins have been identified as structures related to villae maritimae, commonly dated on the basis of their building techniques to between the Late Republican period and the start of the 2nd c. A.D. Key architectural features of these villas include different porticoes, panoramic exedras, artificial and natural grottos, galleries, nymphaea and piscinae. What all these elements have in common is that they are situated at the very point of contact with the sea and use the bedrock as the ground for construction.

Written Testimony of Ray D. Madoff before the Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee Hearing on the Burden of the Estate Tax on Family Businesses and Farms

Congressional testimony focusing on (1) the importance of the estate tax, particularly in supporting the fairness of our tax system and (2) the significant societal costs that would result from repeal of the estate tax.In one form or another, the estate tax has been with us since this country’s earliest days. The first estate tax was enacted in 1797, long before the income tax. Our modern estate tax was enacted in 1916, a mere three years after the enactment of the income tax. Any tax that has stood the test of time for so long should not be repealed without due attention to the role that it plays in our society, and the negative repercussions that could result from its repeal.

In-between spaces and social interaction: a morphological analysis of Izmir using space syntax

This research tackles the intermediate spaces between buildings and the street, by examining the definition and importance of spatial configuration in relation to urban morphology and social relations. It also analyses how the organisation of in-between space affects social interaction in different urban forms. To understand the complex relations and socio-spatial structure of the city, it is important to use mixed methods. This research utilises various methods to focus on three dissimilar urban morphologies in Izmir, Turkey. Two inner city quarters and one modern housing estate of middle- and high-income groups are compared using space syntax analysis and snapshot observations. These neighbourhoods are selected according to their syntax measures from more integrated to segregated neighbourhoods in the axial analysis. And for a detailed zoomed-in analysis, similar diameter areas are covered for observations. Subsequently, activity patterns are observed at different times of the day, one weekday and one Sunday in three cases. In each neighbourhood, syntactic measures of all selected streets are correlated with these recorded activities. This study reveals that connectivity of streets is important for supplying niches that trigger long-duration activities and social interaction. In modern estates, stationary activities are not correlated strong enough with movement as it is in inner city neighbourhoods. Additionally, in-between spaces increase the frequency of social interaction and co-presence of people particularly in more integrated areas. However, this is only one element in developing sense of community. Further research is needed especially in correlating space syntax with environmental issues, as well as people’s behaviour.

The Fuggers of Augsburg: Wealth and Honor in Renaissance Germany by Mark Häberlein (review)

Reviewed by: The Fuggers of Augsburg: Wealth and Honor in Renaissance Germany by Mark Häberlein Thomas Max Safley The Fuggers of Augsburg: Wealth and Honor in Renaissance Germany. By Mark Häberlein. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012. Pp. ix + 286. Cloth $39.50. ISBN 978-0813932583. The press release that accompanies Mark Häberlein's synthesis of historical scholarship on the Fugger family of Augsburg trumpets, "In contrast to the other famous merchant family of the period, the Medici of Florence . . . no English-language work on them has been available until now." The Medici have indeed attracted the attention of scholars, whose works have been published in several languages including English, while literature on the Fuggers remains almost exclusively a German-language phenomenon. Unfortunately, this volume does little to redress the balance. Whereas readily available studies of the Medici offer meticulous, original scholarship—Raymond de Roover's classic The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank, 1397-1494 (Cambridge, MA, 1963) comes to mind—Häberlein's work rehearses the findings of others, putting old wine in new skins, to turn a parable: a kind of bait and switch that is not satisfying, but rather, at points, deeply frustrating. Häberlein's study opens most promisingly. After a concise discussion of the historiography on the Fuggers, he arrives at "several conclusions" that "a new history of the Fugger family" can draw (5). First, it should not focus too exclusively on great leaders, especially Jakob and Anton; second, it should avoid the teleology of a linear rise from common labors to aristocratic achievements; third, it should attend to "the social norms that were of fundamental importance to late medieval and early modern estate society" (6), among which he privileges notions of the common good and honor. Yet, the volume does not live up to its author's intentions. Because it is not "new," in the sense that the author has not engaged in original research or interrogated past scholarship, it remains captive to that scholarship: not only its insights, but also its errors. The results are neither "meticulously researched" nor particularly "timely," all claims to the contrary notwithstanding. Häberlein's Table 1, for example, borrows figures on taxable wealth from the work of Peter Geffken ("Soziale Schichtung 1396 bis 1521. Beitrag zu einer Strukturanalyse Augsburgs im Spätmittelalter," unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Munich, 1995) to claim that Hans Fugger's widow, Elisabeth Gefatermann, "must have been a remarkably business-minded woman" (13). He thus argues from matter to mentality, going beyond the limits of the available evidence. Nor does he analyze the evidence he has: it shows, in fact, a simple growth rate of 3.5 percent annually, which is healthy but not remarkable. In chapter 4, Häberlein claims that "it is hardly justified to speak of a decline of the Fugger's trade" (120), a hypothesis that he borrows whole-cloth from an essay by Georg Lutz ("Marx Fugger [1529-1597] und die Annales Ecclesiastici des Baronius. Eine Verdeutschung aus dem Augsburg der Gegenreformation," in: Baronio Storico [End Page 679] e la Controriforma. Atti del Convegno internazionale di Studi, Sorra 6-10 Ottobre 1979 [Sora, 1982], 421-546) and then elevates into one of the volume's major findings (viii). Yet, Lutz based his analysis solely on the Generalrechnung of 1577, and neither his analysis of the account nor the author's pastische of scholarship actually addresses the question of decline. Marx Fugger managed a consolidation of the Fugger firm and extended its life far beyond the expectation of his father, yet the company became smaller under his leadership than it had been under Jakob and Anton, as well as smaller than companies then on the rise in Italy and the Netherlands. Its "decline" was thus both absolute and relative, and the issue requires more research than Lutz or Häberlein have given it. Häberlein hopes to avoid teleologies through greater attention to context. Yet, as the discussion of decline suggests, he chooses selectively, privileging local economic and political circumstances while ignoring comparative or theoretical discussions. With regard to the growing difficulties that the Fuggers confronted in the late sixteenth century, Häberlein invokes...

O sentido do político: os conceitos de organismo e mecanismo na crítica do estado moderno

O sentido do político: os conceitos de organismo e mecanismo na crítica do estado moderno

De facto privatization or a renewed role for the EU? Paying for Europe's healthcare infrastructure in a recession

Each year billions of Euros are spent on upgrading or replacing ageing healthcare built infrastructure across Europe.1,2 Major expenditure is needed, not only in the new member states – predominantly those with health systems inherited from the former Soviet era – but also in countries with a more modern estate such as Germany. And stimulus packages, assembled by European governments in response to the economic crisis, have to a degree targeted the upgrading of national infrastructure, including hospitals and other healthcare facilities.3 But how will all this be paid for in an environment where finance and capital markets are blocked and public expenditure resources may be in increasingly short supply? As Nigel Edwards pointed out in a recent editorial in the JRSM, organizations with plans for capital expenditure are likely to find it hard to acquire funding in the current economic climate.4

クルドサックから不整形グリッドへの街区構成原理の発展 : 英国エセックス州デザイン・ガイドの研究(2)

The aim of this study is to clarify the difference of the principles of layout structure between the old Essex Design Guide and the new with the analysis of the respective backgrounds. The cul-de-sac in modern estate design was invented by Unwin (1863-1940) and Parker (1867-1947), and has been developed to the one in the old guide. The cul-de-sac in the old guide is used as a method to create a Townscape and to control car traffic. On the contrary, deformed grid was adopted by the new guide with the concepts of permeability and legibility. The deformed grid is used in the new guide from the point of view of the interrelationships between buildings, spaces and human activities.

Becoming a Contra

This article addresses peasant participation in the counter-revolutionary war against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Many studies have examined peasant involvement in revolutions; few have looked at peasant participation in counter-revolutions. Nicaragua offers a rare chance to redress this imbalance. Although the counter-revolution in Nicaragua has generated much literature and controversy, insufficient attention has been devoted to the actors in it and too little weight has been given to their views. In this article, peasants speak for themselves, bring their own perspective to events, and give their own reasons for their participation. Their testimony suggests a new approach to understanding the phenomenon of peasant counter-revolution. My research shows that for many peasants the indiscriminate and extensive Sandinista repression of a sector of the rural population was a crucial factor in their decision to join the Contra.(f.1) It is a corrective to the view that peasants are naive and easily manipulated, and it questions traditional assumptions that middle-ranking peasants almost always support revolutions.Field research was carried out in Nicaragua between July and November 1991, at the end of the demobilization process of the Nicaraguan Resistance(f.2) when tensions were high between the Sandinistas, who lost the 1990 election, and the returning demobilized Contras. Violence, threats, aggression, and assassinations, mostly directed against the Contras, were numerous. Consequently, some people declined to be interviewed; others wanted the assurance of a safe place away from their community to deliver their testimony. But some, unafraid of Sandinista reactions and sometimes with defiance, were eager to tell their stories. Generally, all participants were surprisingly open in discussing the details of their personal experience and emotions and their motives for joining the Contra. Fifty-one people were interviewed, mostly rank and file soldiers from the peasant class (83 per cent).(f.3) They were recruited on an individual basis and located through personal investigation in regions where demobilized Contras were to be found. Interviews, which lasted on average about three hours, were conducted under conditions of strict confidentiality, and all witnesses were guaranteed anonymity. Most people used an alias.The north-central area of Nicaragua became the battlefield of the counter-revolutionary war during the 1980s.(f.4) The mountainous landscape contrasted with the much more densely populated low, fertile plains of the Pacific zone. The majority of the people in the north lived in small towns and satellite communities. However, an important segment of the peasantry was isolated in numerous smaller communities (comarcas) dispersed throughout a vast territory connected only by dirt roads which often became inaccessible during the rainy season. A large sector of small-and medium-sized cattle and coffee producers controlled the economy of the region.(f.5) Because they did not challenge the political authority of the regime of the Somoza family, they had been allowed to develop their own economy. There was also an important class of poor peasants who survived on a subsistence living and were subordinated to the producer class through a semi-feudal system. To fulfil their basic needs they had to work for larger landowners either as paid labourers or as sharecroppers. Their dependency was not simply on the wealthy but also on middle-class peasants who gained considerable social and political influence over the poorest peasants.Historically, the Somoza family ignored these regions and devoted its attention to the export-oriented crops of the Pacific lands. The rural Pacific zone was structured around large modern estates, most of them owned by the Somoza family and its supporters, and dependent upon a rural proletariat. The expansion of the family property occurred at the expense of small peasants, who were gradually displaced, often through repressive means, and forced to accept work on the plantations to survive. …

Per capita phosphorus loading from domestic sewage

To assess the phosphorus contribution from domestic sewage to Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland, daily per capita loadings were measured by monitoring the effluent from a housing estate. A modern estate with 472 houses was chosen because it was free from industry and had separate foul and storm drainage systems. By a house-to-house census the total population was found to be 1645. Daily loadings in the foul sewer were calculated from measured hourly flow rates and concentration data. The effective population contributing to the foul sewer was estimated by making allowances for export from or import to the estate of excrement by workers and school-children. An attempt was made to verify the assumptions used in estimating the effective population by monitoring the loading in the foul sewer of creatinine, a metabolic end-product excreted in constant amounts in urine. Predicted creatinine loadings, using population data and per capita excretion values, were in good agreement with measured loadings. Per capita daily loadings of soluble orthophosphate, total soluble phosphorus, total phosphorus and BOD were calculated using the effective population and measured loadings for Mondays to Fridays during three weekly survey periods. The results indicated a per capita value of 1.8 g day −1 for total phosphorus in domestic sewage.

The distribution of hepatitis B surface antigen in Africa and the tropics: report of a population study in Nigeria.

This preliminary study was designed to examine the distribution of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in two contrasting groups in an urban area situated in the tropical forest belt. The sample from the traditional area represents a population of low socio-economic status, living in the central slum areas of the city, and the sample from the peripheral area represents a population of high socio-economic status living in clean modern estates. The prevalence rate of HBsAg by complement fixation (CF) was 12-6 per cent in both areas. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups with respect to prevalence of the antigen. When both groups were combined, no significant relationship was found between the presence of the antigen and sex, age, marital status, level of education, occupation, income, and a presumed exposure to the antigen from injections, dental treatment, blood tests, surgical operations, blood donations, tribal, (medicinal), tattoo and cosmetic marking, insanitary disposal of faeces, doubtful sources of water supply, and exposure to mosquitoes. No association with genotype was found.

Traditional and new industries in Dundee

Abstract On the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the first Industrial Estate in Dundee this article reviews the industrial development of the city in the post‐war period and identifies the problems of two sectors of the city's industry, the traditional Jute industry and the modern estate based industries. The friction between the two in their post‐war development, and the effects of the change of emphasis in the city's industrial structure during that period, on the demographic and social geography of the city are also discussed. The article concludes with an outline of the possible lines of development for industry in Dundee, with reference being made to present Government economic planning policies for Scotland.