Reinventing the Heartland: How One City’s Inclusive Approach to Innovation and Growth Can Revive the American Dream

A blueprint for the bottom-up revival that is so sorely needed in cities across America. 

To thrive in this day and age, cities must create innovation economies of their own. Tech jobs, venture capital, and R&D are concentrated in a handful of big coastal cities, while the broad middle of the country is left out—and that’s a problem.

Nicholas Lalla founded Tulsa Innovation Labs in January 2020 to help Tulsa, Oklahoma transition from its outdated oil and gas legacy to tech. Lalla's organization would go on to build the first tech-led economic development strategy in northeast Oklahoma’s history, raise over $200 million, and create thousands of tech jobs. This success catalyzed 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.

Drawing upon Lalla's experience, Reinventing the Heartland lays out a bold and pragmatic plan for urban reinvention, showing innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders how to:

• Help establish your city's tech-identity based on existing assets to inspire local growth.
• Build an environment of innovation and healthy inclusivity.
• Rapidly up-skill talent in the era of AI.
• Fuel a future of positive change, growth, and urban-rural partnership.

Each chapter covers a core plank of the action plan, with powerful examples of the kinds of changes American cities need. In Reinventing the Heartland, Lalla provides the path forward for any city ready to embrace the future.

Nicholas Lalla is an urbanist and social entrepreneur, working at the intersection of economic development and emerging technology. He partners with cities to build strategies and initiatives that catalyze inclusive growth. Lalla founded Tulsa Innovation Labs, an organization deploying over $200 million to build northeast Oklahoma’s innovation economy. He previously led Cyber NYC for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, a cybersecurity initiative The New York Times called "among the nation’s most ambitious . . . " Earlier in his career, at the Urban Land Institute, he launched a national resilience program for cities combatting the effects of climate change. Lalla has written for Newsweek, Fast Company, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Next City, among other outlets. He can be found online at nicholaslalla.com.