Inside one

A new kind of residential living in the United States has emerged just outside of Phoenix, Arizona.

In Tempe, 15 miles east of Phoenix and home to Arizona State University (ASU), Culdesac is making its name for itself as 'the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch' in the country. 

Its first lot of residents, numbering almost 40, moved in 2023, but eventually Culdesac aims to house 1,000 residents in 760 apartments on its 17-acre plot by next year.

At the time of writing, rental prices start from $1,550 per month, which can get you a 635 sqft studio, and you can lease a fully furnished two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit with 1,019 sqft from $2,641.

A new kind of residential living in the United States has emerged outside of Phoenix, Arizona

In Tempe, 15 miles east of Phoenix, Culdesac is making its name for itself as 'the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch' in the country

Its first lot of residents, numbering almost 40, moved in 2023, but eventually Culdesac aims to house 1,000 residents in 760 apartments

The layout of the Tempe neighborhood. It does having a carpark for visitors

For a 'limited time,' Culdesac is offering six weeks' worth of free rent (worth up to $4,500), a free light rail pass (worth $768) and a free electric bike (worth $999) for new residents, according to its website.

Despite only rentals being available at the moment, there are plans to give people a chance to own a slice of real estate.

Since the move in, online videos have emerged of the new neighborhood with curious viewers tuning in to witness the social experiment.

One of these videos is from Kirsten Dirksen's YouTube channel, where she speaks to some residents who live at Culdesac that is car-free, except for the visitors' carpark.

The idea of the neighborhood is that people can go to the supermarket, for a coffee, workout and take their pet for a run around the dog park without driving. It's built next to the light rail line that takes you to downtown Phoenix.

'We're not creating a different lifestyle here. We're saying some of the best parts of life are being able to meander as part of your day. Like what are the worst parts of your day? Waking up in the morning, feeling like you're in a rush, hopping into your garage, hopping in your car and sitting in traffic,' Culdesac's Erin Boyd tells Dirksen.

'It's like okay, can we remove that and if you remove that what does that time allow? We think that time allows for being outside, getting fresh air, getting exercise, casual interaction with your neighbor, which we know increases happiness, is a very old way of living, that's what people love to do. But the way that we've built cities around the automobile has slowly and slowly taken that away from us.'

Despite only rentals being available at the moment, there are plans to give people a chance to own a slice of real estate

Since the move in, online videos have emerged of the new neighborhood with curious viewers tuning in to witness the social experiment

Despite only rentals being available at the moment, there are plans to give people a chance to own a slice of real estate. Pictured is inside one of the bedrooms

The idea of the neighborhood is that people can go to the supermarket, for a coffee, workout and take their pet for a run around the dog park without driving. Pictured is a living room

It's built next to the light rail line that takes you to downtown Phoenix. Above is another shot of the interior

Culdesac's Erin Boyd said they weren't 'creating a different lifestyle here,' but trying to reduce the worst parts of people's days, such as their daily commute where they're sitting in traffic

Resident Trinity told Exploring Alternatives she moved into the neighborhood on December 1, 2023, and she was having a 'great time so far'

Boyd added that Tempe - which has just over 180,000 residents, according to 2022 US Census data - was becoming 'much more dense' and a lot of industries were coming to the city.

'As a result North Tempe specifically is going to grow by 50 per cent by 2050,' she said.

Resident Kimberly Carson, who works at ASU, lives just three light-rail stops away from the campus in Tempe.

She picked her new home because of its location and said she loved her commute now because she didn't have to sit in her car.

When asked why she got interested in Culdesac, Carson replied: 'It is space designed for people, so it's really organic that you're going to run into somebody, that you're going to meet somebody, like there's people walking down here... there's somebody riding their bike, there's like people going to the grocery store.'

She then takes Dirksen and to some of the retailers who have set up in the neighborhood, including a thrift store, a tea shop that also doubles as a cleaning service, and a bike shop whose owner lives in Culdesac.

Carson said her neighborhood was unlike Phoenix and the rest of Tempe, which had car-centric designs and wasn't meant people to walk around.

Culdesac has also been built with the punishing Tempe heat in mind. According to the Arizona State Climate Office, average summer daytime temperatures are between 105F and 115F.

The area employs what Boyd describes as 'desert responsive urbanism,' where there is no heat-absorbing asphalt to ensure temperatures are cooler in the neighborhood.

The walls of the buildings are white to reflect the heat, inspired by the Barrio Viejo neighborhood in Tuscon, and Greek and Italian villages.

'It reflects the heat and so this is very purposeful the way it's been designed and you can already see the shade, even on a day like today it's even kind of cool because of the amount of shade the buildings create,' Boyd explained.

For a 'limited time,' Culdesac is offering six weeks' worth of free rent (worth up to $4,500), a free light rail pass (worth $768) and a free electric bike (worth $999) for new residents

Culdesac has also been built with the punishing Tempe heat in mind

According to the Arizona State Climate Office, average summer daytime temperatures are between 105F and 115F

The area employs what Boyd describes as 'desert responsive urbanism,' where there is no heat-absorbing asphalt to ensure temperatures are cooler in the neighborhood

Culdesac cofounder and CEO Ryan Johnson told another YouTube channel, Exploring Alternatives, back in March that the company wasn't 'anti-car'

'But in the summer in Arizona, this is very important. We had a Harvard researcher here this summer who had a heat gun and she was on the sidewalk it was 137 degrees on the sidewalk, back here was 90 degrees.'

She continued that the ground was made up of 'permeable materials' like the paths being made out of decomposed granite, which again 'helps absorb some of the heat.'

The plants are ones that will thrive in the desert and don't require a lot of watering, but are also 'part of creating the little microclimate that we have here.'

Other than the light rail and bikes, residents also receive 15 per cent off Lyft rides and carsharing starting at $5/hour with Envoy.

Culdesac cofounder and CEO Ryan Johnson told another YouTube channel, Exploring Alternatives back in March that the company wasn't 'anti-car.'

'If anything we're anti-car dependency, where people need to buy a car and all the costs of that. Cars are so expensive and the average monthly costs for a car are like $800,' he said.

Johnson said he wanted Culdesac to be a 'role model' for how to build walkable neighborhoods.

'We started with the 17-acre rectangle and we said let's show how we can build walkable neighborhoods in the U.S. in the 2020s, and instead of starting with an existing neighborhood and trying to retrofit, we said what would be the best way to make this neighborhood,' he explained.

'This could be a role model for places all over. We don't think it's perfect, but this is much better than the typical type of housing we build.'

Resident Trinity told Exploring Alternatives she moved into the neighborhood on December 1, 2023, and she was having a 'great time so far.'

'It's been amazing. I've met many friends and it's like a little community, a little family,' she said.

'When I first heard car-free, I was like, "Oh my gosh, that's like a big change," since I was used to using my car for a lot of things, but after living here, it's been super easy, especially getting the ebike. I love my ebike, I take it with me to go to class every day... it's so much nicer, especially just traffic in general is awful and just being able to see things that you wouldn't normally with your car is amazing.'