San Diego ( SAN dee-AY-goh, Spanish: [san ˈdjeɣo]; Spanish for 'Saint Didacus') is a city in the U.S. state of California located alongside the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. With a population of over 1.3 million residents, the city is the eighth-most populous in the United States and the second-most populous in California after Los Angeles. The city is located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border and is the seat of San Diego County, which has a population of nearly 3.3 million people as of 2021. San Diego is known for its mild year-round Mediterranean climate, extensive beaches and parks, its long association with the United States Navy, and its recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center.
Historically home to the Kumeyaay Native Americans, San Diego has been referred to as the Birthplace of California, since it was the first site visited and settled by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California 200 years later. The Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded in 1769, formed the first European settlement in what is now California. In 1821, San Diego became part of the newly declared Mexican Empire, which reformed as the First Mexican Republic two years later. California was conquered by the U.S. in 1848 following the Mexican–American War and was admitted to the union as a state in 1850.
San Diego's main economic engines are military and defense-related activities, tourism, international trade, research, and manufacturing. The city is the economic center of the San Diego–Tijuana conurbation, the second-most populous transborder metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere (after Detroit–Windsor), home to an estimated 4.9 million people as of 2012. The primary border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, the San Ysidro Port of Entry, is the busiest international land border crossing in the world outside of Asia (fourth-busiest overall). The city's airport, San Diego International Airport, is the busiest single-runway airport in the world.
Open spaces[edit | edit source]
In its 2013 ParkScore ranking, The Trust for Public Land reported that San Diego had the 9th-best park system among the 50 most populous U.S. cities.[1]
List of parks in San Diego W
Cycling activism[edit | edit source]
San Diego County Bicycle Coalition
The dry and mild climate of San Diego makes cycling a convenient and pleasant year-round option. The city has some segregated cycle facilities, particularly in newer developments, however the majority of road facilities specifically for bicycles are painted on regular roadways, covering over 1,570 miles throughout San Diego County. The city's hilly, canyoned terrain and long average trip distances—brought about by strict low-density zoning laws—somewhat restrict cycling for utilitarian purposes. In 2014 of.9% of commuters traveled by bicycle, below the average 1% for large U.S. cities. Also in 2014, San Diego experienced 6.8 bicyclist fatalities per 10,000 cyclist commuters, the average for all large cities was 4.7.
A bicycle sharing system called Decobike was instituted in 2015. W
Bike paths in San Diego, (category) W
Food activism[edit | edit source]
Social inclusion[edit | edit source]
As of December 2012, San Diego has the third-largest homeless population in the United States; the city's homeless population has the largest percentage of homeless veterans in the nation.[2]
News and comment[edit | edit source]
2020
Seed libraries help communities grow food in a pandemic, Jun 17[3]
2017
More minority communities are saving money and energy with renewable solar energy, Apr 21[4]
2015
San Diego Vows to Move Entirely to Renewable Energy in 20 Years, December 15[5]
2014
San Diego announces plans to become the first U.S. city to install cyber-controlled street lighting, using an "intelligent" lighting system to control 3,000 LED street lights, January 30[6]
2011
A sign of global warming, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography say the average surface temperature of the water at Scripps Pier in the California Current has increased by almost 3 degrees since 1950.[7]
News sources
External links[edit | edit source]
Wikipedia: San Diego