This Trip Includes:
3. Walking Trip
4. Location that is at least 15 miles away from UCLA
 |
| Geese Walking at North Woodbridge Lake, Irvine. |
Exploring North Woodbridge Lake Area, Irvine, Orange County.
This weekend, I traveled to Irvine in
Orange County to analyze the city of Irvine as part of the
metropolitan L.A. region. Irvine, commonly nicknamed “the bubble,” truly stands
out among the cities surrounding the area like Lake Forest, Tustin, Orange and
Santa Ana as being extremely manufactured, manicured, very clean and safe. For
this trip, I focused specifically on one of the main attractions in Irvine, the North Woodbridge Lake area, to observe the impact of social difference on the urban landscape. The area I visited included the Woodbridge Lake, Woodbridge residential
housing and private amenities, the Woodbridge Village Shopping Center and various commercial
buildings. Due to the distance of this centralized area from other central regions in Irvine and Orange County, this entire area serves as an example of the decentralized centralization that occurs in Irvine, as well as other postsuburban cities. As this is a very modern postsuburban location, organic solidarity is reflected in almost every aspect of the urban location as it is obvious that people do not live together in clans or tribes and it appears that all people work at specialized jobs which enable them to buy cars and rent or own houses.
From my mom's apartment, the drive to North Woodbridge lake took about fifteen minutes. As always, driving around Irvine was an interesting experience. I saw perfectly cut green grass lining
the roads, as well as palm trees and precisely trimmed bushes that seem to guard the streets at every
direction. Drivers try to go fast getting to where they need to go at around 50-60 mph on most roads. Yet, interestingly, it doesn’t seem to help people get to their destination faster, as there is traffic lights at the end of every street and intersection almost as if to stop people from speeding. The roads provide a very smooth ride, illustrating the city has ample money to constantly keep up with construction maintenance. Going from Woodbury to Woodbridge was very much like going from one central area to another, as this Woodbridge area has housing, recreation, businesses and a shopping area all networked together in a close proximity.
As I passed the lake, I noticed that there wasn't too many people present at the Lake itself. There was a few runners and someone walking two beagles. There was no convenient parking on the street or by the lake but even if I could find street parking, the only way to get to the Lake would be to illegally cross the street. So, I decided to park in the lot of the Woodbridge Village Shopping Center. The Woodbridge Village Shopping Center and parking lot is where I noticed the concentration of people, or material density, of the area increase slightly because of the people flocking to the coffee shop, Ruby's Diner, Barnes & Nobles and the dollar movie theatre. I used the convenient bridge to take me over the street (Barranca Pkwy.) directly to the lake. The fact that this bridge was only accessible by a parking lot area indicates that in this area, everyone is expected to own a car for transportation and to enjoy the features around them. Also, since the parking lot is meant for customers of the Woodbridge Village Shopping Center, this layout encourages the visitor of the lake to patronize the businesses within the center. Because people are expected to use cars and engage in frequent shopping excursions, it reflects that this area attracts and is organized for people who can afford to lead this type of lifestyle.
Arriving at the lake water, I saw a few bikers and kids running around with
their parents. Overall though, it almost appeared as a private lake, despite the
cars rushing by the front gazebo area. There were more geese than people and they were everywhere. As I walked past them, they kept walking, undisturbed by my movements. Everyone around me was quietly enjoying the lake, but seemed to be in their own world. One person smiled at me, but for the most part eye contact seemed to be nonexistent because people were preoccupied with the lake or their kids. It’s
clean, just like the rest of Irvine and beautiful, especially for
being man-made. Yet, it was obvious that the lake was unnatural, because it was so symmetrical and lacked wild vegetation.
Right on the lake, there were lake homes that looked expensive and uniform from a distance (see above photo). On the the other side of the lake there were other houses that looked bigger but didn't have the luxury of such a gorgeous waterfront view. On the other side of the road, past the Woodbridge Village Shopping center, there were even more houses and apartment complexes. They still looked clean and safe, just a little older. Here, placement of houses and near this man-made lake could symbolize wealth and status as discussed in the "Nature, The City and Social Difference Lecture"(Wilford 2012). Nature is used within cities as aesthetic value and can make the homes more valuable and attractive. Perhaps these older houses reflect extension and succession that was discussed in The Growth of the City, as they seem older than the newer looking lake houses. Over time, when the lake was created, newer houses might have been built there and given new places for people with extra money to relocate and extend into recently developed housing. This extension of new housing would have led to succession in pushing the residential region out into another geographic zone. If these new housing units created housing for residents outside of the area, which it most likely did, then it would also be indicative of past mobility, or movement created by "a new stimulus or situation" (Burgess 2010). This movement would be the new residents moving into the area or residents relocating to the newer housing units that became available. Additionally, movement would also take place because the area would have changed its form by adding these new human used locations.
Within each residential community, all of the houses and apartments basically looked homogenous, however most of the people residing within these communities seemed to make an attempt to personalize their homes and project that personalization outwards. Either with their cars in the garage, welcome door mats or window decals, small glimpses into the demography and personality of the residents peeked through. Although it's easy to pass these places and assume that everything is 'cookie cutter' or reminiscent of a scene out of the Stepford Wives, if you look hard enough you will see individualized character shining through the almost identical housing units (see picture below of a hello kitty window I found at one of the Woodbridge Lake houses).
 |
| Hello Kitty Decals Adds Personalized Character and Demographic Insight to Identical Housing Unit by the North Woodbridge Lake. |
Regardless of where exactly their homes were located in relation to the lake, there were amenities that seemed to be accessible by all those that lived in the community. These amenities included swimming pools and tennis courts. They were gated, so each member had to have an electronic key to enter. I could only peek through the mesh to see a few people playing tennis. Various tennis balls were strewn on the outside of the courts from people hitting their tennis balls out of the court and forgetting to pick them up. The lack of concern for lost tennis balls hint that many of these residents can afford to buy new tennis balls, rather than deal with the hassle of grabbing the dirty ones from the bushes and dirt. The exclusive aspect of these amenities suggest that the community only wants to allow members of their community in, while keeping others out. In addition to filtering the visitors of these amenities, the exclusivity makes the amenities available seemingly more special and upscale, perhaps even resembling the amenities of a resort or hotel.
After observing the amenities, I started walking back to the Woodbridge Village Shopping Center and the business complexes adjacent to the shopping center. The business complexes seemed to be very diverse in the type of businesses the offices held. The types of businesses I observed ranged from medical and technological offices to tutoring offices. Each of the offices looked very clean and almost new. The cars in the parking lot seemed to be in good condition, suggesting that the workers who are employed within the offices make a comfortable to high amount of money.
In the actual Shopping Center, there were more of these types of businesses, but they began shifting focus to children and health. For example, there were more tutoring and learning centers for math, science, art, dance and martial arts. There was also more dentistry, acupuncture and general doctors offices within the shopping center. It was interesting to see the placement of these business-oriented offices, as they were generally hidden behind the retail and food related stores or on the second and third levels of the Shopping Center. The largest and highly frequented stores were the chain stores, like Barnes & Noble bookstore, Ruby's Diner and the movie theatre. Although these popular chain stores have a broad clientele, judging by the customers within each of the stores, they were very family-oriented and children friendly. The movie theatre obvious catered to a family budget (being a discount theatre) and had many children's movies available for viewing. For those uninterested in shopping or for those tired from shopping and eating, there was a small seating area in the middle of the shopping center with a miniature jungle gym for little kids.
Overall, this small Woodbridge community seems to be a a very convenient centralized area within the larger city of Irvine and of the L.A. metropolitan region. Theoretically, residents in the area could shop and get entertained within this area, get medical and dental care and work within the business shops in the area. In this way, it represents the decentralization discussed within One The Emergence of Postsuburbia: An Introduction, as the area is not part of single centralized area within the city, but rather is a center separated from the other centers. Because of the similar income level that would be needed to sustain lifestyle in the community, judging from the superb condition of the houses, their size, location and access to amenities, there is obvious social differentiation between this community and one in neighboring cities. Although it isn't obvious if you were to solely examine this area, it is differentiated socially because people of the same socio-economic bracket are clustering here together away from other socio-economic brackets located elsewhere, perhaps in Tustin, Lake Forest or Santa Ana which have other higher and lower housing and living costs. In this way, Irvine is part of the stratification of postsuburban Orange County and the entire entity of L.A., as it houses one demographic while restricts other demographics from being able to reside and shop within it's city due to it's fairly high price.
Despite this stratification which can be viewed when comparing Irvine to other cities, inequality was very hard for me to discern between individuals within this portion of Irvine. Perhaps this is why Irvine is called "the bubble." Everyone I ran into seemed to be healthy, dressed in new clothing and seemed to be in the middle-class. I believe the way many of the housing units and office buildings are painted the same way and presented to look the same may be intentionally created that way to hide any discrepancies of slight lower and higher incomes and create the illusion that everyone fits within the same social atmosphere as everyone else, at least economically.
In One The Emergence of Postsuburbia: An Introduction, Kling, Olin and Poster argued that Irvine essentially lacks a community, as people are more solitary and less open to bonding with their neighbors. Although I agree that the residents and visitors in the community do not seem to talk amongst each other and form bonds, I believe there is still a real sense of community that can be felt as you walk around. However, the community that can be found seems to have morphed into communities that the residents choose to participate in. For example, the art learning center in the shopping center catered to kids interested in learning how to paint. This fostered a community for kids who love art to meet and create art together. Additionally, I saw flyers for a Woodbridge running group for people who want to run with other people in their community. Although it is not an obvious overarching and broad community that includes every single person who lives there, it still provides a sense of togetherness and community that would not exist if everyone was completely focused on "domesticity" alone (Kling, Olin & Poster 1995). It seems that just as people have specialized in jobs and live in regions that are organized by differentiation, our sense of belonging and community has also followed suit.
Lastly, in Professor Wilford's lecture we learned that Durkheim attributed many "social problems" and issues to be a result of too much material density (Wilford 2012). Although there was an increased material density within the shopping center, there really wasn't a very high concentration of people because of the spatial layout. Compared to other shopping centers and malls, the material density was actually quite low. Additionally, the material density of a place like a shopping center is subject to fluctuation. Irvine was determined to be "the safest city in the country" for eight consecutive years by the FBI as reported by the L.A. Times in this article and it could be because throughout these centralized pockets in Irvine the material density is fairly low.
After taking my trip through the Woodbridge area of Irvine, it has become clear that Irvine is a product of social difference. Looking at the way Irvine is structured and organized spatially reflect the type of people that live in the city, which demographic this city appeals to and what is important to the people who live there. Specifically for the Woodbridge area that I explored, I believe the urban geography reflected that the residents who live in the Woodbridge Lake area are affluent, mostly upper to middle class, are concerned with safety and place a high value on education and entertainment.
Unlinked References
Burgess, E. (2010). The Growth of the City. The Blackwell City Reader, 2, 339-344.
Kling, R., Olin, S., & Poster, M. (1995). One The Emergence of Postsuburbia: An Introduction. University of
California Press, 1-31. Retrieved from http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0k40036b/.
Wilford, J. (Oct. 8, 2012). Cites and Urban Difference: History and Theory. Geography 151. Lecture conducted
from University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Wilford, J. (Nov. 21, 2012). Nature, The City and Social Difference. Geography 151. Lecture conducted from
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
No comments:
Post a Comment