Tulsa's Civic Organizations

Civic Organizations in 1950

In 1950, the Standard Deviational Ellipse (SDE) representing 68% of Tulsa’s civic organizations was 2.3 square miles. This area is represented by the green shaded area. The blue rectangle represents Tulsa's core downtown, an .86 square mile area.

Tulsa's Civic Organizations 1950-2000

Over a five decade period, the ellipse containing 68% of Tulsa’s civic fauna grew from 2.3 to 46.2 square miles. As downtown declined as a habitat for civic organizations, the groups moved steadily away from the core downtown area (blue rectangle) toward the southeast. 2000’s SDE barely captures half of the former downtown core.

By 2000, citywide civic fauna (as represented by the SDE) was only 2.2% as geographically dense as it had been in the downtown Tulsa of 1950. To the extent civic fauna density promotes opportunities for interaction between members of different groups, the answer to whether downtowns matter is clear.