Northwood, Irvine, southern California - CASE STUDY

Background Information

• Community in the northern part of the City of Irvine in Orange County, California

• Irvine - developed as a fully planned city - began in the 1960s + built on the former Irvine Ranch - classic edge city

• The city’s vision statement is ‘to create + maintain a community where people can live, work, + play in an environment that is safe, vibrant, + aesthetically pleasing’

• The city was developed around a series of communities called ‘villages’ of which Northwood is one

• Located on the southern edge of the Los Angeles conurbation about 10km east of Newport Beach on the Pacific Ocean

• To the east there are the low Santa Ana Mountains

• 22,000 people live in Northwood in just over 8200 households

• 1/3 of the households are families with children of school age

Social + Economic Conditions

• Residents are well-off financially - median income is about UK$86,500 a year compared to the nation average of about US$52,250

• The University of California, Irvine is the city’s single largest employer + offers a range of opportunities

• Number of well established high-tech companies - Blizzard Entertainment (video games), Broadcom (semiconductors), several medical, pharmaceutical + aerospace firms

• Several TNCs have their USA headquarters in the Irvine such as Kia Motors, Mazda Corporation + Toshiba

• The area is home to many new businesses ventures + offers opportunities for start-up companies such as small + well-serviced premises + venture capital

• Health care for Northwood’s residents is excellent - even by the high standards of an AC

• Air pollution is relatively low as Northwood is on the edge of the Loa Angeles conurbation + therefore avoids the smog common in places towards the centre of the conurbation

• The schools in Irvine are regularly assessed as being among the best-achieving in the USA

• There are five high schools + several tertiary education facilities

• The educational standards of the residents is high - many having first degrees (68.5% of residents aged 25+) with 20.5% possessing masters or doctorates

• The overall crime rate in Northwood is 70% is lower than the national average

• Irvine as a whole is safer than 96% of the cities in California

• Violent crime stands at about 50 incidents per 100,000 people in Irvine compared with 336 per 100,000 nationally

• The figures for vehicle theft are 52 per 100,000 in Irvine but 220 per 100,000 nationally

• Half the residents are white - second most numerous groups being Asian - mainly from Vietnam - after the USA left Vietnam following the success of the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War, many former South Vietnamese migrated to the west coast of the USA)

Housing Conditions

• Characterised by single-family houses on relatively large ‘lots

• 91% of households own their own home - of these 2/3 have lived in Northwood for more than 10 years

• The average household size is 2.8 persons

• Many of the streets are lined with trees - mostly eucalyptus - legacy of the windbreaks established when the area was farmland

The Future

• Irvine in general regularly features among the highest ranked cities within the USA - factors like safety, management, + the ‘best place to live’

• During downturns in the economy the area retains its reputation for high-paid employment

• Combination of high-quality housing, transport infrastructure, education, facilities such as retailing + Mediterranean-style climate along with the easy access to the beaches along the Pacific, Northwood + Irvine represent the opposite end of the economic spectrum to Jembatan Besi