ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the role of documents in enabling the realisation of planning aspirations. It focuses specifically on a re-zoning case in New York City and on the official texts used to guide the deliberations of the City Planning Commission. To the extent that planners are reformist, they are concerned to treat regulations as more than restrictive and protective. They also consider them to be aspirational. In this specific case, the performative qualities of the regulations were less important in enabling aspirations to be realised than the historical and political underpinnings of the regulatory process itself. While the documents produced during the re-zoning functioned to channel attention, legitimise the process, and memorialise decisions, more importantly, they enabled the discussion to extend beyond statutory requirement and led to an understanding of the proposed project and its planning implications that overflowed the relevant regulations.
