An Eco―city Both Inside and Outside

Located fifty kilometers to the south of state of California， America is a city with an area of 88 square kilometers and a population of less than 180000. Small as the city is， there are 7 main expressways， which connect the city to other cities of Orange County. As the safest business area with the most complete planning and best natural environment of America， it has attracted a large number of residents and become the most important high-tech industrial center of Orange County. It is one of the communities with best overall planning in America-- Irvine California Eco-city.

An eco-city with complete planning

Why is the city of Irvine so attractive？ Irvine occupies an extensive area， which covers 9 miles of the coastline along the Pacific Ocean and extends inwardly 22 miles from the coastline. It is rich in geological and natural resources. Irvine can be divided into three parts based on the topography： the southern coastal area， the central area and the northern alpine area. The southern and northern areas have the most abundant natural resources. Its ecological protection area is of 50 thousand acres.

For the ecologically fragile areas， a three-level system of large-scale nature reserves， city parks and public lawn of community has been adopted to ensure the continuity and integrity of the ecological protection zone. For example， setting up large-scale reserves in the areas where the ecological environment is fragile and city park in built-up area to protect smaller communities. In addition， in order to develop a complete environment system， in every large residential area or community there are public lawn and water surface. These beautify the city environment and provide lot of space for residents to get close to nature and have outdoor activities.

Ecological communitis with low density and diversity

In order to reduce the effect of human activities on the natural environment， the development of residential area of Irvine adheres to the principle of intensive development， and that the land should be suitable to the natural resources.

The land of residence goes across the layout of the whole region and separates the major natural protection area and the Industrial development zone. The development strengths of the residence are also differed according to different characteristics of the resources in different regions. For example， low-density residences have been developed in coastal and wetland areas， whose ecological environments are relatively fragile and the surroundings of mountain reserves. The density is 1.6-3.5 household / acre， far less than 18-40 household / acre of other areas.

The design of the residential area adheres to village concept and its main purpose is to control the spread of activities of human and provide supporting equipment to every community， to make it convenient for the residents to solve the basic needs of life within walking distance， and therefore reach the goal of reducing the use of cars. The reporter gets to know that at present the city of Irvine has 18 communities in total， with 175000 people living in them. The size of each community ranges from 600 acres to 2000 acres， and there must be complete facilities including schools， shopping area and open space inside the community. Different communities and residential areas should be separated by lawns， ravines， streams or forests to create a clear boundary. In addition， each community has various patterns of housing， which ensures the diversity of population of the community.

What is worth learning from most is that， the planning and design of every community of the city of Irvine must have a theme that is consistent with the characteristics of the resources of the land， such as mountains， forests， golfs， streams， lakes and so on. This helps to establish a sense of belonging of the community and the consciousness of protecting the natural environment of the community residents.

A multi-pronged strategy for saving energy

In the design of residence， Irvine has set up strict energy saving standards of building and has a mandatory requirement for all residence that they should use energy saving technology， such as high-tech indoor furnace and air conditioning system， double-panned windows， shower nozzle with small capacity of water and other relevant equipment， so as to save water and energy and reduce emission maximally.

Although each residential area has abundant open space， the city of Irvine sticks to the principle of combining convenient intercity traffic with ecological internal traffic systems. As for intercity traffic， it is connected to metropolis with tracks and expressways and inside the city there are strict limitations of the speed of vehicles and the priority of walking， bicycle and public transport has been stressed. The city of Irvine encourages residents to hang out on foot and has built up a 158-mile bike lane to make it convenient for residents to get to every corner of the city by bike. The reporter has been told that， the city of Irvine has established an organization called Spectrumotion， which provides free suggests of transportation and helps organize hitchhiking， which could reduce the use of private vehicles.

In addition， the ecological infrastructure whose core is the recycling of water resources is the highlight. For example， the Michelson Water Recycling Center delivers water for life to families and other departments on one hand， recycles and processes the sewage produced by industry and life and will deliver processed water to pond reserves， woodland and industrial land for recycling. By building up a recycling center of water resources， Irvine has succeeded in connecting the city， ecology and water for industry organically and realizing the effective utilization of water resources.

Both inside and outside， both form and content

Statistics show that Irvine is one of the several cities with the lowest crime rate in America. Even at eleven or twelve o’clock at night， people can walk in the streets without feeling unsafe. The good social security has become an important factor to attract foreign merchants. It is common that people lay great emphasis on the education of their children and a community with good basic education tends to attract people to move in and the prices of the residence rises with the demand. Therefore， the city government of Irvine increases investment in education to improve the basic education of community. The average SAT score （the university entrance examination score） of high school graduates of the city is 150 points higher than that of America. Therefore， Irvine has been rated one of the best cities in America to bring up children by the magazine Parents.

Many enterprises decided to move to Irwin because of the abundant human resources here. In 1965， Irvine "sold" the land of 1000 hectares to the University of California with the price of one dollar and the University of California， Irvine （UCI） was established. The business which "sustained losses" has brought unmeasurable wealth to the city of Irvine. Now， the UCI has provided a lot of talents for the corporations of Irvine. Many graduates of the UCI who come from other regions decide to settle down here after graduation and the enterprises have little difficulty in finding qualified talents. Some high-tech enterprises find it very easy to employ talents of information， biology， electronics and so on.

A lot of talents have settled down in Irvine and therefore many enterprises are also attracted; with more enterprises moving to Irvine， talents can be taken advantage of， which becomes a virtuous circle between enterprises and talents.