Last weekend there was a debate taking place on a very small corner of the Internet. It was about the Midwest’s culture and its impact on growth and development prospects.
Before I get to the sides of the debate, I’d like to conduct a quick exercise. Pretend you’re invited to a focus group to discuss the Midwest, however you define it. You are to give one word that explains your perception of the region. What comments would you make about how it would be defined?
OK. Have a word? I can probably come up with some that might’ve crossed your mind:
- “Rural.”
- “Industrial.”
- “Cold.”
- “Insular.”
- “Nice.”
- “Flat.”
- “Simple.”
- “Rusty.”
- “Decline.”
- “Heartland.”
The ten words above would probably be near the top of anyone’s list. Other words like “middle”, “average”, “ordinary” or “normal” might also enter many people’s lists. Taken together, they could all be described with another single word: “mediocre”.
That’s the crux of the debate. Is the Midwest a mediocre region?
One side says no. There are plenty examples of excellence in the region that can serve as the building blocks for real economic growth in the region. We have top-tier private and public colleges and universities. We have scores of Fortune 500 companies. We’re at the center of the nation’s rail and air network, making us an excellent place for the distribution of people and goods. We’re the nation’s breadbasket, we’re affordable, we offer the best work/life balance of any region in the nation. We already have excellence, and we just need to do a better job of utilizing it to our advantage. And besides, who are you calling mediocre?
The other side of the debate disagrees with this. They say the region is inherently risk-adverse. They see a Midwest that is often unwelcoming to outsiders. They see it as a region that accepts the status quo, even when there are strong arguments for doing otherwise. The world is constantly changing, and the Midwest hasn’t kept pace. Ambitious Midwesterners must leave for the coasts if they want to succeed, they say, and that’s what’s keeping the region from prospering in the 21st century.
I’ll lay out my position here and describe it in more detail later. Simply put, but sides are right. The Midwest has wonderful assets that would be the envy of any region, or nation. Yet having those assets hasn’t necessarily vaulted the region to greater prosperity over the last 50 years or so. The Midwest is lagging the coasts and the Sun Belt because outsiders view its culture as incompatible with excellence.
Read the rest of this piece at The Corner Side Yard.
Pete Saunders is a writer and researcher whose work focuses on urbanism and public policy. Pete has been the editor/publisher of the Corner Side Yard, an urbanist blog, since 2012. Pete is also an urban affairs contributor to Forbes Magazine's online platform. Pete's writings have been published widely in traditional and internet media outlets, including the feature article in the December 2018 issue of Planning Magazine. Pete has more than twenty years' experience in planning, economic development, and community development, with stops in the public, private and non-profit sectors. He lives in Chicago.
Photo: Aerial view of McCordsville, a suburb of Indianapolis, via Library of Congress in Public Domain.
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