In contrast with many of the model cities of the time, the MXC was to be experimental, trying new things rather than proposing to select from the best of the existing practice.
The project was initiated and directed by scientist and University of Minnesota dean Athelstan Spilhaus, and reflected the confidence of that era in the ability of science and technology to solve the world's problems -- "If we could send a human into space, we could do anything"[1] -- and concern that existing cities were failing, blighted by crime, decay and exodus of the well-off to the suburbs.
[1] Supporting MXC were Otto Silha, publisher of the two largest newspapers in the state, the Minneapolis Star and Minneapolis Tribune, a four-star general; the physician of president at the time Lyndon B. Johnson; civil rights leader Muriel S. Snowden; and Buckminster Fuller.
[1] MXC received approximately $250,000 in federal government funds thanks to the support of former Minnesota senator and vice-president Hubert Humphrey.
In the plan, only 1/6 of the area would be paved, the remainder would be open space: parks, wilderness, and farms.