Dominant Decision-Making Authority”: Resident Leadership in St. Louis, Missouri, Model Cities Planning

When federal policymakers created Model Cities in 1966, they envisioned it as an innovative approach to urban renewal. Part of the War on Poverty, Model Cities combined slum redevelopment, an expansion of social services, and citizen participation. Understanding community action as a critique of and attempt to reorient decades of failed urban policy, this article spotlights efforts by residents to seize and maintain control of urban improvement programs. Residents claimed expertise in urban planning by virtue of their experience living in impoverished neighborhoods. Their vision for their community suggested an alternate path for city planning that supported poor residents’ influence to achieve a more democratic society. This article traces how community leaders in St. Louis, Missouri, briefly achieved resident-controlled urban planning within Model Cities. Although residents’ ideas were never implemented as they hoped, these plans expose the opportunities and constraints of neighborhood activism in the War on Poverty.