I admire this authors optimism but I don’t see Irvine becoming less suburb like in at least the next 4 decades.

All new development is very car oriented. The shopping plaza areas are all either strip mall style or mall style. As the author noted there is no downtown and that was by design. It’s an un-walkable place and does not have any sort of city character feel. It feels sterile, HOAd into bland brownness and grass. It’s like living in a 2000’s office park.

I do not get the impression there is an effort to make it more city like with any downtown area or less sterile feeling.