The neighborhood development program “Social City” aims to discontinue the downward tendency of so-called disadvantaged neighborhoods by funding numerous projects. In the course of the program implementation, the method of evaluation – as a target-performance analysis – becomes more and more relevant. But whether something can be called a successful neighborhood management or a successful measure of integration strongly depends on its context and the point of view. For this reason evaluation research says that the effects of programs are usually only indicated unsatisfactorily. These observations lead to the research aim, to explain the function of evaluations for the constitution of development programs beyond usual arguments of effectiveness and efficiency. Using a system theoretical approach Wilhelm analyzed the explicit and implicit norms and observation schemes of a successful program implementation. The following theses on the role of evaluations in program implementations can be derived: a) Evaluations lay down the change in the distinctions of political intervention and facilitate communication about success,b) Evaluations manifest the differentiation between underprivileged and privileged neighborhoods in the program and help to legitimate it, c) evaluations actualize the funding programs’ ability to absorb insecurity and finally d) evaluations take the “illusion of control” inherent to every political strategy of intervention as a basis and thus contribute to its manifestation.