University Park, Irvine, California

University Park was built in phases beginning in 1965 shortly after plans for a nearby University of California campus were announced. The neighborhood, whose opening predates Irvine's city-hood by five years,[2] was envisioned to attract buyers from a wide range of demographics and was designed to offer various housing types to meet the diverse needs of its target residents.[3] Designed in collaboration with Peter Walker, Dick Law, and Kalvin Platt of Sasaki, Walker and Associates, the neighborhood utilized the Garden City approach to planning by designing clusters of homes to face publicly-accessible park areas and greenbelts tucked away from principal roadways in order to create a lower dependence on automobiles.[4] These greenbelts were also designed to link neighborhoods and amenities in the neighborhood, including schools, shopping centers, the library, and recreation areas. At the time of its construction, the neighborhoods's planning concepts were considered experimental, such as the use of rectangular cul-de-sacs containing greenery in the center. Home sales initially were slow due of the neighborhood's isolation from other built-up areas and also due to the incompletion of the nearby I-405 freeway.[5] However, upon its eventual completion, the neighborhood contained Irvine's first library, high school, and retail shopping center.

University Park comprises multiple neighborhoods and associations[6] and contains a high concentration of community facilities and amenities. In addition to its greenbelts and bikeways, the neighborhood contains community facilities, parks, schools, religious institutions, a library, commercial centers, adjacency to open space and recreational areas, and access to transportation.