Tulsa Comprehensive Plan - PLANiTULSA

Plan Chapter: Economic Development
TESTiNg iNNOVATiVE
bUiLDiNg MODELS
bob Smith
The PLANiTULSA team collaborated with
builders, financial institutions and stakeholders
to create several innovative building models
for Tulsa. These models exemplify the mixeduse
places that were popular in the public
workshops. They combine housing, retail, and
employment uses and use innovative
parking techniques.
The models were calibrated with realistic
financial and construction cost assumptions
gathered from local builders and financiers.
These will serve as guides for proposed
changes to Tulsa’s zoning code, and will provide
examples for developers on how to help make
the vision a reality.
Mixed-use residential
model with parking on the ground floor
behind a ground-floor retail space.
The bOK Center is an important catalyst for rebuilding downtown’s
regional profile.
Plan Chapter
Economic Development
How Tulsa’s future is shaped will depend a great
deal on its economic prosperity. Tulsa will need
a vigorous and strategic approach to economic
development. It must be coordinated with
policies on land use, housing, transportation and
the factors that affect residents’ quality of life
like parks, open space, and education. While we
can improve our economic fortune by focusing
on our strengths, like aerospace, energy, and
health care, we must also support entrepreneurs
and emerging small businesses, who will grow
the industries of the future. Recent increased
coordination by the city economic development
department and Tulsa’s chambers of commerce
have seen important gains in all areas of the city.
This coordination should continue to be a focus in
the city, with renewed emphasis on a unified city
development group that advocates projects and
programs in conjunction with the city’s chambers
and makes available a complete package of tools
to support economic development negotiations.
32 | TULSA ViSioN- July 2010