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Reinventing the Heartland: How One City’s Inclusive Approach to Innovation and Growth Can Revive the American Dream
The story of one city’s efforts to reinvent itself in the heartland is a powerful example of the change America needs.
In January of 2019, Nicholas Lalla made his first visit to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to consider working on an economic development project he had been invited to lead. Listening to Tulsans talk about racism, poverty, and trauma, the need for redevelopment, and the city’s broader desire to change economic course inspired him to accept the role and found Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL). In Reinventing the Heartland, Lalla shows how cities that have been left out of the innovation system can grow their own vibrant tech ecosystems while at the same time building a more inclusive and equitable economy.
Over the course of four years, TIL built the first tech-led economic development strategy in Tulsa’s history and raised $215 million in capital that it is now in the process of deploying through multiple initiatives. This success has spurred new investments and is helping the city transition from its oil and gas legacy to tech. This now stands as a massive, city-wide endeavor—the first time in American history a city has dedicated itself in such a concerted way to becoming a player in the innovation economy. This multi-pronged approach is explained through the context of Tulsa, but other cities—domestic and abroad—are explored as well, proving that Tulsa is not an outlier, but a leader.
Reinventing the Heartland lays out a bold and pragmatic plan for achieving this kind of vision for any city. Each chapter covers a core plank of the action plan, which, in turn, engages timely and complicated issues affecting broad swaths of American society—from the evolving role of higher education to how to bridge the urban-rural divide to the increasingly problematic role of billionaires in cities. It engages timely issues affecting American society at large—from the pros and cons of remote work to the evolving role of higher education to the political consequences of the urban-rural divide. Lalla provides the path forward for America, not just in Tulsa, but across the Heartland and in any city ready to embrace the future.
In January of 2019, Nicholas Lalla made his first visit to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to consider working on an economic development project he had been invited to lead. Listening to Tulsans talk about racism, poverty, and trauma, the need for redevelopment, and the city’s broader desire to change economic course inspired him to accept the role and found Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL). In Reinventing the Heartland, Lalla shows how cities that have been left out of the innovation system can grow their own vibrant tech ecosystems while at the same time building a more inclusive and equitable economy.
Over the course of four years, TIL built the first tech-led economic development strategy in Tulsa’s history and raised $215 million in capital that it is now in the process of deploying through multiple initiatives. This success has spurred new investments and is helping the city transition from its oil and gas legacy to tech. This now stands as a massive, city-wide endeavor—the first time in American history a city has dedicated itself in such a concerted way to becoming a player in the innovation economy. This multi-pronged approach is explained through the context of Tulsa, but other cities—domestic and abroad—are explored as well, proving that Tulsa is not an outlier, but a leader.
Reinventing the Heartland lays out a bold and pragmatic plan for achieving this kind of vision for any city. Each chapter covers a core plank of the action plan, which, in turn, engages timely and complicated issues affecting broad swaths of American society—from the evolving role of higher education to how to bridge the urban-rural divide to the increasingly problematic role of billionaires in cities. It engages timely issues affecting American society at large—from the pros and cons of remote work to the evolving role of higher education to the political consequences of the urban-rural divide. Lalla provides the path forward for America, not just in Tulsa, but across the Heartland and in any city ready to embrace the future.
- GenresNonfiction
352 pages, Hardcover
Published March 4, 2025
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1544 people want to read
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May 7, 2025
Nicholas Lalla, came from a poor area of mostly Black and Latinos New Orleans but took a bus to a private Catholic School and later went to Northwestern in Chicago. He calls it '"escape velocity". he didn't feel that he fit in with the mostly rich students. He was gay and poor. But inspired by his mother, he wanted to make thing better. Even though he majored in black history, he strived to be a an urban planner.
He knew about Pittsburgh, long ago the center of Big Steel and how the city came back to life with employment with having Google, Intel and Robotics invigorate the city., He also learned about Austin, Texas which boomed with jobs with Dell, IBM, Apple and later Telsa. He thought making Tulsa, a center for tech companies would bring jobs to the declining city and decrease unemployment. He hoped that more minorities would take the jobs and be lifted out of poverty.
He did a lot of research, met with the city leaders, important people in the city and the university there. He made plans and charts for them are in this book. He goes over his successes and failures in this book.
This book is very interesting to me because I live in a suburb outside of Austin. There has been a change, but the minorities are still in poverty and being forced out of their neighborhoods because that they can no longer afford them. The cost of housing and rental apartments has shot up and worst of all, the traffic is terrible because the transportation infrastructure has not been changed to accommodate the fast population growth. So there are problems. I think the author would recognize these problems.
In the future there needs to be a way to bring in the low income people, educate them in the needed job and the city and the companies coming in need to work on the infrastructure. I took a summer intensive course on Urban Planning in Graduate School and I learned that this task is very complex. You need to plan for parks and places for people to rest, and areas where people can gather together to celebrate things. I really think that a very large crew is needed to develop a plan to reinvigorate the city.
He knew about Pittsburgh, long ago the center of Big Steel and how the city came back to life with employment with having Google, Intel and Robotics invigorate the city., He also learned about Austin, Texas which boomed with jobs with Dell, IBM, Apple and later Telsa. He thought making Tulsa, a center for tech companies would bring jobs to the declining city and decrease unemployment. He hoped that more minorities would take the jobs and be lifted out of poverty.
He did a lot of research, met with the city leaders, important people in the city and the university there. He made plans and charts for them are in this book. He goes over his successes and failures in this book.
This book is very interesting to me because I live in a suburb outside of Austin. There has been a change, but the minorities are still in poverty and being forced out of their neighborhoods because that they can no longer afford them. The cost of housing and rental apartments has shot up and worst of all, the traffic is terrible because the transportation infrastructure has not been changed to accommodate the fast population growth. So there are problems. I think the author would recognize these problems.
In the future there needs to be a way to bring in the low income people, educate them in the needed job and the city and the companies coming in need to work on the infrastructure. I took a summer intensive course on Urban Planning in Graduate School and I learned that this task is very complex. You need to plan for parks and places for people to rest, and areas where people can gather together to celebrate things. I really think that a very large crew is needed to develop a plan to reinvigorate the city.
Displaying 1 of 1 review