One century removed from the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Oil Capital of the World is repositioning itself in the global marketplace. Old problems remain partially abated but continue to linger as Tulsa's economy diversifies away from mining and drilling. As the ambitious infrastructure investment Vision 2025 winds down, Tulsa remains at a crossroads. Recent calls for investments in "New Tulsans" remain unanswered, while residents parts of the city still have little access to new amenities produced by recent infrastructure investments.

The oldest continually inhabited city in the United States’ domain, San Juan celebrates its quincentennial (500 year anniversary) in 2021. Favorable trade winds enabled the Spanish outpost to flourish into a key port and served as a gateway between the Atlantic Ocean and Carribean Sea. These winds betrayed San Juan in 2017, guiding Hurricane Maria to devastate the community. The principal city in the United States’ largest unincorporated territory continues to recover from the catastrophic damage, presenting the unique opportunity to rebuild itself.

50 years ago, Walt Disney World opened, capping off a decade's long project to build a theme park in Florida. Neighboring Orlando transformed from a military support community into a tourism destination practically overnight, for better and for worse. Investment flowed into Orlando, but the hypersensitive hospitality market results in a fractious local economy. Reemerging from the COVID-19 global pandemic offers a unique opportunity for Orlando to potentially pivot through new investments or double down and attempt to pandemic-proof their hospitality champions.

Permanently settled with the intent of housing a state capitol, Indianapolis serves as the cultural and political center of a midwestern state. Social institutions and strong economic partnerships have limited the strain from deindustrialization, unlike many rust belt peers. Several national institutions call Indianapolis home, from the American Legion to the National Collegiate Athletic Association to Indycar. Despite these relative successes, the city celebrating its bicentennial faces infrastructure and equity challenges.

On a cool autumn night, a fire spread across an emerging Midwestern metropolis. The great conflagration served as a seminal moment in local history: for the second time permanent settlement at the mouth of the Chicago River burned to the ground. Fueled by durable transportation infrastructure, a second city rose from the ashes. Business recovered and wealth endowed key cultural and educational institutions. Today, a third rendition of Chicago is emerging as a global city. Chicago’s labor, racial, and political checkered histories cast a shadow over the community 150 years after the Great Chicago Fire.

Established during Reconstruction, natural resource extraction drives Birmingham’s unique early history. Early labor practices involved a cruel Jim Crow fueled prison lease labor, a prototype for the prison industrial complex. The resulting political and economic system routinely favored business leaders over residents. Unlike Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh of the South does not enjoy the philanthropic investments from robber barons who profited off of local labor. Despite these challenges, the city continues to grow, and recent developments suggest substantive improvements for locals.