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TheModel Cities Program was an element of U.S. PresidentLyndon Johnson'sGreat Society andwar on poverty. The concept was presented by labor leaderWalter Reuther to President Johnson in an off-the-record White House meeting on May 20, 1965.[1] In 1966, new legislation led to the more than 150 five-year-long, Model Cities experiments to develop newanti-poverty programs and alternative forms of municipal government. Model Cities represented a new approach that emphasized social program as well as physical renewal, and sought to coordinate the actions of numerous government agencies in a multifaceted attack on the complex roots of urban poverty.[2] The ambitious federal urban aid program succeeded in fostering a new generation of mostly black urban leaders.[3] The program ended in 1974.[4]
Authorized November 3, 1966, by theDemonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966, the program ended in 1974. Model Cities originated in response to several concerns of the mid-1960s. Widespread urban violence, disillusionment with existingurban renewal programs, and bureaucratic difficulties in the first years of the war on poverty led to calls for reform of federal programs. The Model Cities initiative created a new program at theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) intended to improve coordination of existing urban programs. Several cities includingDetroit,Oakland,Newark andCamden received funding. The program's initial goals emphasized comprehensive planning, emphasizing not just rebuilding, but also rehabilitation, social-service delivery, and citizen participation. In 1969, theNixon administration officially changed course; however in the majority of cities, citizen-participation mechanisms continued to play an important role in local decision-making.
Other evaluations have identified both failures and success in the Model Cities program, with its limited effectiveness attributed to a combination of complicated bureaucracy, inadequate funding, and competing agendas at the local level.[5][6][better source needed]
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Smithville, Tennessee, the smallest city to receive such funding, is an example of a city that benefited from the Model Cities Project. CongressmanJoe L. Evins secured his hometown's inclusion in the project. Several buildings in downtown Smithville, such as the Dekalb County Court House and the Smithville City Hall, were built from funds from the Model Cities Project. They are still in use as of 2026, and make up a good portion of the city's downtown landscape.
Pikeville, Kentucky was the location of one of the biggest Model Cities projects. ThePikeville Cut-Through is 1,300 ft (400 m) wide, 3,700 ft (1,100 m) long, and 523 ft (159 m) deep.[7] The project was completed in 1987 following 14 years of work for a total cost of $77.6 million. The cut-through provides a path for a four-lane highway, aCSX railroad line, and theLevisa Fork of the Big Sandy River, which snaked through the downtown area, to eliminate almost yearly flooding. The river bed then was reclaimed by depositing fill from the cut-through into the old riverbed, significantly increasing the available space for development within the city.[7]
McAlester, Oklahoma, represented by Speaker of the HouseCarl Albert, was another Model Cities site. There, the program was instrumental in acquiring the land for a regional hospital, among other projects.
Detroit,Michigan was one of the largest Model Cities projects. MayorJerome P Cavanaugh was the only elected official to serve on President Johnson's task force. Detroit received widespread acclaim for its leadership in the program, which used $490 million to try to turn a 9 sq mi (23 km2) section of the city (with 134,000 inhabitants) into a model city.[8]
InAtlanta there was a battle between competing visions. The city's political and business elite, and city planners, along with Atlanta's black middle class, wanted the federal funding to accelerate the economic growth of the entire city. They sought to protect the central business district property values from nearby slums and to construct new revenue-generating structures. However local community activists rallied poor residents in opposition to these plans, arguing that federal renewal funding should be used to replace deteriorating housing stock, whether with new public housing or with low-cost housing built by private developers.[9]
