Culdesac: Car-Free Community in Arizona | Hacker News Reader

Culdesac: Car-Free Community in Arizona

cnbc.com

11 pointsskadamat9 comments

I believe it's this place on Google Maps [1]. There is even the candle shop mentioned in the article. If you compare it to the parking lots of surrounding buildings or to the suburban neighborhood to the North it's very compact. I assume the buildings we see cover the 180 residents mentioned in the article, and the space that's still bare is for the expansion to 1000 if all goes well.

In many ways it's not that different from the apartment complex right next door. I bet those also don't allow you to drive between the buildings. What really makes this development special is that they try to provide all daily necessities and amenities within walking distance. A sizable corner market, a clothing shop, a restaurant, a cafe (yet to open), etc. A very normal sight in Europe, but here you have it in a city block in Arizona.

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.413866,-111.8994126,202m/dat...

Worth noting - it was 115 the other day in PHX. I’m not sure who lives at Culdesac, but my guess is they’re child-free part time AZ residents.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they skew younger, intuitively younger people might be more open to new types of living situations. But a car-free neighborhood seems like a good place to meet people (spend more time out and about instead of just in your car, isolated from everybody around you). And, if one does meet somebody and start a family, it seems like a great place to have kids since they’ll be less likely to be run over, and the amenities for people who can’t drive should be better developed.

Of course the heat is a problem but I guess that’s a problem for all of Arizona.

Their marketing material only shows young people, so that's at least the image they want to project.

But I imagine there is a bimodal distribution. If you are 30-50 and busy with building your own family you might see fewer advantages in a place like this (it's a great place to let the kids run free, but that's culturally less acceptable in the US). But once the kids are out of the house you will start appreciate a community like this again. It's probably even more important for old people since they have fewer alternatives to meet people or just sit outside with friends.

After watching the video, the car-free aspects seem a little disingenuous? It’s an apartment complex with a single large parking lot on one side (rather than with separated units surrounded by parking as in most U.S. apartments).

So tenants can and do have cars, they just can’t drive/park them next to their units. And the apartments are mixed use w/ commercial stores…but that’s not really novel either.

They do get discounts on ride shares, a free e-bike, and do have a walkable complex that’s safer for families and kids so it does seem like improvement overall.

I know what you mean, but practically if they provide a bunch of services that primarily help people without cars, and they don’t allow them in the complex, how much more ingenious (is that a real word? Haha) could they get? I mean it would be quite odd if your apartment complex could dictate to you: no, you can’t have a car off our property either.

The thumbnail of the video looked very much like a several decades old apartment building in Spain that I stayed in not that long ago. The whole development really just looks like some European neighbourhoods, which is a bit strange but also not a bad thing. I think infrastructure for cars is one of the good things about the USA, but I also think combining it with this style of dense development especially in urban areas in warmer states will complement it really well.

I wanted to move there when I was still working from home. Now that I have to commute, it's a no go. I love the idea, though.

The stats are impressive (for the US):

44,000 square feet of retail and amenities

700+ apartments for rent

50+ shared courtyards

17 acres of land

2+ miles of bike and foot paths

0 square feet of asphalt

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