Model Cities First Round: Politics, Planning, and Participation

Abstract

The provision for “widespread citizen participation” in the basic Model Cities legislation has been implemented in the context of a growing social movement by residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods for a greater role in neighborhood and citywide decision-making. The struggle between neighborhood groups and city hall for control over the Model Cities program has characterized the “planning stage” in many cities. Community decision organizations, such as urban renewal agencies, boards of education, health and welfare councils, and anti-poverty agencies, active in the initial stages of planning in many cities, have been eclipsed by the neighborhood-city hall struggle, but they may participate more actively later in specification and implementation of plans. Meantime, the complex sociopolitical contest of Model Cities planning offers a challenge to the present generation of planners and important implications for the education of the next generation.