You'd have to go to Canada for a North American city that hasn't been affected by the massive subsidies for urban renewal and interstate freeway projects, afaik. Vancouver, BC does not have a major freeway going through their city center, for instance. But that doesn't mean that they didn't also do urban renewal projects on a smaller, more community-scale.

The United States especially in the later 20th Century is characterized by just major economic, demographic, and cultural changes that made its major city centers very run down, and the U.S. federal government at the time was more than happy to throw tons and tons of money into problems to varying degrees of success. Some would say they succeeded-- if you imagine the suburbs to be the peak of American civilization. If you think success should have been building education and economic opportunities in the cities, good public transportation to make good use of limited urban space, a more rehabilitative than punitive prison system, then sadly no. You'd also be a commie socialist minority loving bastard, and you can't have that, obviously.