I read it in the 80's, though I could have been an older issue. The story was told in the form of official memos or emails. A couple of guys are discussing how to deal with abandoned neighborhoods in a "future" city (think modern Detroit) and one of the guys brings up the idea of using a nuke to clear the abandoned areas. He means it as a joke, but is horrified to find that the idea is taken seriously.
The bulk of the story is working out the logistics of nuking the abandoned areas while the ideas originator tries to get across that he was joking and that nuking an American city is a horrible idea, all told in the form of official memos.
Any help given would be appreciated as I'm working on a presentation for my Oral Communication class and would like to use the story as a reference.
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Analog's forum page seems to be down for repair, but a first step could be trying to contact the magazine through their website. Some of the retailers they list on the website might also have information about the contents of their back issues. This would be most helpful if hearing the title of the story or reading it jogs your memory.
This might be a good first step in your search.
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If you can find a Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature at your local library, or you can access an Ebscohost or Proquest database through your college or university (assuming your class is through such an institution and their subscription includes a genre serials index - a big if), they just may have Analog included.
This search approach may work best if, in reading through the 1980s information, you can also bring to mind other articles or stories that may have appeared in the same issue, since I know judging by titles and authors for the story you want is almost a craps shoot, since there has been so much that sounds similar in terms of authors/titles that has been published.