San Diego is a large coastal Southern California city
San Diego coastal Southern California south of LA located in the southwestern corner of the continental USA. San Diego has a population of 1,311,162 people.
Downtown San Diego has been enjoying an urban renewal since the 1980s, beginning with the opening of Horton Plaza, the revival of the Gaslamp Quarter, and the construction of the San Diego Convention Center.
Some neighborhoods are resisting this planning approach. But "mixed-use development" has had its successes, especially the award-winning Uptown Shopping Center in Hillcrest.
It is the second largest city in California and the eighth largest in the United States. The larger metropolitan area is the 21st-largest in the Americas, with a population over 4.8 million.
The Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), San Diego's downtown redevelopment agency, has transformed what was a largely abandoned downtown into a glittering showcase of waterfront skyscrapers, live-work loft developments, five-star hotels and a slew of cafes, restaurants and shops.
The North Embarcadero is slated to have parks in addition to a waterfront promenade.
And Balboa Park will be linked to downtown with a view corridor. The recent boom in the construction of condos and skyscrapers has brought with it a gentrification frenzy, and some people are concerned that speculators have played too big a role in the condo market downtown.
In the meantime, the city is committed to a "smart growth" development scheme that would increase density along transit corridors in older neighborhoods (the "City of Villages" planning concept.)
The University of California, San Diego and nearby research institutes on Torrey Mesa provide a base for technological innovation and there are numerous high-tech and biotech companies in the area, such as Qualcomm, Neurocrine, Illumina, and Genentech of Oceanside.
Major tourists attractions include the city's beaches and bays, Balboa Park with its many museums, the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, San Diego Wild Animal Park and Old Town, the site of the original Spanish settlement.
It lies just north of the Mexican border shares border with Tijuana, Mexico and is a home for United States Navy, United States Coast Guard and United States Marine Corps bases, many miles of beaches, and a mild Mediterranean climate.
The annual mean temperature is 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit (18°C). San Diego's economy centers on tourism, trade, agriculture, ship-building, the military, biotechnology, computer science and electronics.
Northern: Bay Ho, Bay Park, Carmel Valley, Clairemont Mesa East, Claremont Mesa West, Del Mar Heights, La Jolla, La Jolla Village, Mission Beach, North City, North Clairemont, Pacific Beach, Torrey Pines, University City.
Northeastern: Carmel Mountain Ranch, Miramar, Mira Mesa, Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Peñasquitos, Sabre Springs, San Pasqual Valley, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Valley, Tierrasanta
Downtown San Diego at night, as seen from the west. San Diego Bay is in the foreground, and to the far right is the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge.
