A neighborhood in Tempe, Arizona is daring to try something many towns and cities would be too scared to attempt: banning cars. Tempe, a city outside of Phoenix with a population over 190,000 people, isn’t exactly a one-horse town. In a small neighborhood of the city called Culdesac, the country’s first modern car-free neighborhood thrives with bicycles and walkers.
In place of roadways, streets, traffic circles, and stoplights, Culdesac’s car-free 17-acre area is a mixed-use neighborhood with shops, eateries, a doctor’s office, dog park, pool, gym, and co-working space. Here, residents can simply walk to grab a morning coffee, attend an appointment, workout, or walk their dog with friends.
Other initiatives in the town also encourage green living. Residents can walk or bike around town, and if they need to travel further, they can rent one of Culdesac’s shared electric vehicles for $5 an hour. To get into Phoenix, residents can hop on the light rail. The BBC reports, carbon emissions are cut by 2.2 to 3.6 tons annually when neighborhoods switch from individual vehicles to public transportation.
The community is still expanding, and when it’s completed, 760 housing units and 1,000 residents will frequent nearby businesses and bike around. BBC reports this could prevent 3,000 tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere annually.
“Strolling around Culdesac’s shops, restaurants and outdoor markets offers a glimpse into a future where cities are once again built for people, not traffic.” According to the BBC, “research is revealing that walkable cities make people happier, less lonely, more satisfied with life, and physically healthier.” And the evidence can be found in various places. Studies on the world’s blue zones, where populations live the longest, walking and regular daily movement is almost always a contributing factor in rendering the highest number of centenarians in a given community.
