What I discovered in Tulsa is that Heartland consists of the great country not only geographically but also in society, culture and even spiritual. For me, Heartland represents medium cities like Tulsa, middle -class citizens and those who try to go to the middle class. Whether the mythical center is honored or cursed, the historian of Kristin L. Hoganson wrote, it promoted the perception that there was a bay between the center and the edges, between the heart and the national body. Regardless of its definition or border, this perception is real: It is really the center that does not represent a division. We often think that people who lack the opportunity are on the sidelines, operating on the edges of society. But Heartland has shown us that the metaphor is reversed, the people on the sidelines of economic opportunities represent vast intermediaries, while coastal technology centers, through their concentrated wealth, minority and still hold power.
Each city wants to become a technology center, but only a few on the coast stipulate the US innovation system, and that is a problem. Brookings organization found that from 2005 to 2017, 90 percent of growth from the country's renovation field came from only five coastal metro. And from July 2022 to July 2023, six coastal cities accounted for nearly 50 percent of all US job posts on general artificial intelligence (AI), which is the advanced technology of today's technology industry. Through the division of talent, industry, capital and economic accumulation, large coastal cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston and Washington, DC, have exclusively innovated and countless its benefits. This narrow geographical distribution of the innovative economy causes the central cities out and limits opportunities for the majority of the population.
Therefore, the American dream, the notion that through difficult work, everyone has an equal opportunity to have a good and decent life to make the generations better when leaving the reach of more people. Vào năm 2023, với lý do bất bình đẳng thu nhập tăng, nhà kinh tế Harvard Raj Chetty nói, nếu chúng ta nhìn vào những gì đã xảy ra theo thời gian, chúng ta sẽ thấy một sự mờ nhạt của giấc mơ Mỹ để trẻ em sinh ra giữa những năm 1980 và năm 1990. Đây là những tỷ lệ cược không thể chấp nhận làm suy yếu niềm tin vào nền dân chủ và chủ nghĩa tư bản của Mỹ, và họ sẽ chỉ trở nên tồi tệ hơn trừ khi các thành phố trung tâm hành động khẩn cấp để thiết repeat their economy.
Central cities like Tulsa can and must be actors in the innovative economy, although there is an unfair approach, it is still the best opportunity for long -term work and creating wealth. But they do not need to compete with large coastal centers. The average is in their own class, and they should try to become their own best version.
Middle -class cities like Tulsa, with an urban population of 1 to 3 million people, have a foundation to support a technological ecosystem: population density, cultural facilities, as well as relatively low living expenses that can reduce the risk of starting a business. The trend of the pandemic force has emphasized these advantages, because the members of the creative class can now easily seek better quality of life and stay away from coastal cities, where growth and fairness are too regular. The established technology centers are driving even well -compensated people, and this mobile talent group is seeking benefits in places like Tulsa. This talent creates an opportunity for any city to attract and retain them.
Despite possessing many main factors for a technological ecological system, too many central cities have also closed the innovative economy by clinging to outdated concepts of economic development, by investing in their community, or by keeping EC talents. While most changes occur organic over time, the increase in inequality in the country and expand geographical gap in technology has brought us to a bending point as a country. The central cities need to rotate with the intention and hurry or at risk of death.
Take Inventing the center By Nicholas Lalla copyright © 2025 of Nicholas Lalla. Used by the permission of Harper Horizon, a part of Harpercollins Focus, LLC.