At the outset of construction on an uneven terrain—with basins, elevations, or mere slopes—it is necessary to carry out a process of ground levelling. This often implies bringing in outside materials, shredded into pieces small enough to successfully cover the gaps. After a decree was issued in 1971 for the institution of Lake Texcoco’s Federal Enclosure, hundreds of hectares covering the muddy bottom of the ancient lake were cleared and left idle, prompting all kinds of infrastructural, real estate, and touristic projects: the dusty Conagua (National Water Commission) archives shelter the copies of typewritten development projects for Lake Texcoco, proposed soon after the new territory was instituted. Once the lake was desiccated, the patch of land represented on sheets of paper was rumpled, and flattened again. Correspondingly, the land needed levelling, even if not assigned to any concrete project. The sheer openness of idle land incites its occupants to tame and homogenize it, rendering it available: pure possibility, pure future. [...]
Levelling
in ENCYCLOPEDIA