Most cities across the US were designed with the automobile in mind. But, Culdesac is trying to change that. It’s developing its first neighborhood designed with a car ban from the start in attempt to create one of America's truly walkable cities.  So is this the future of American cities or a roll of the dice?

Cheddar Explains

The Pop Up City That’s Banning Cars From The Start

This is called a sack. America's first neighborhood built with a car band in mind and it's opening this year. But will it usher in the next generation of walkable cities or will it just be a dead end? Let's take a tour. There have been three phases to cities as we know them First, we had walking city's dated pre 18 80. They featured narrow, winding and unpaved roads. Next came the streetcar city. This period ranged between 18 80 1920. In this period, streetcars replaced slower and less reliable force cars finally came the birth of the automobile city, Which was post 1920, the car decentralized business hubs in the city and help disperse the population further into the suburbs. America has since become a car country so it kind of makes sense that most american cities were designed with cars in mind. But today the car centered city might be falling out of favor. 1 2016 study from the Regional Plan Association found that 56% of millennials and 46% of baby boomers prefer to live in more walkable neighborhoods. That's where cul de sac comes in. The self described tech real estate and culture company is attempting to make walkable cities a thing again, cul de sac broke ground on its 16 acre car free city back in 2019. The neighborhood is located just 15.5 miles from phoenix, which in contrast is not walkable at all. The coldest temping neighborhood is scheduled to open later this year. Once opened, the neighborhood will house 1000 residents who will leave their vehicles outside of the neighborhood instead of using their vehicles. To get around, residents will have to walk, ride or roll to get around the neighborhood. That's because cold Issac Tempe has an old school layout design firm optic owes incorporated pasos or walkways as a key feature in the design of the neighborhood. These are similar to the greek, italian and french historic villages. Now let's shrimp into the layout. This yellow area is all carpi zoning. The northwest entrance is located right next to the light rail, making the city accessible from public transit station. Plaza located here will be encircled with coffee shops, restaurants and coworking spaces. It also leads you directly to the primary paseo that east west Paseo organizes the neighborhood and serves as a social focal point for the community and its visitors think of it as main street. The primary paseo will have a bar and market and midway down you'll find a dog park, pool and creative space as well as a water feature, much like the fountains found in european plazas. The housing units are set up in irregular patterns. They're called pods instead of blocks, opticals, calls them fabric buildings because they define and activate public spaces for the neighborhood. The residential buildings are either two or three story walk ups that cluster together to create shaded courtyard spaces. While the basic housing design is simple, each building will be mixed use and will consist of architectural variety in the materials, elements and window types Cold. A sac is scheduled to open in 2022, but it doesn't plan to stop in Tempe. The company already has plans on opening up locations. If all goes well, there may be a car free neighborhood coming your way next. Only time will tell how a truly car free community will actually work out.