Culdesac Tempe: A Car-Free Neighbourhood

The post-car real estate development company known as Culdesac approached Opticos Design to apply their expertise in walkable communities and Missing Middle Housing to the first car-free neighborhood designed for shared mobility and built from scratch in the United States.

Located just 2.5 miles from downtown Tempe, Culdesac Tempe features zero residential parking on a 16-acre infill site next to a light rail station. The car-free neighborhood is largely driven by innovative mobility technology that makes it easier for people to give up their car. The neighborhood will be 100% rental, thus providing a different approach to multifamily development.

Because the project does not have to accommodate the car, the Opticos team shifted the design focus to great urbanism and placemaking. It is similar in character to a Greek, Italian, or French historic village with irregular, narrow meandering paseos, a hierarchy of public spaces, and thoughtfully placed buildings and building elements that deliver a sense of discovery as you make your way through the project. It will be unlike anything built in the United States in the past 150 years and unlike anything ever built in the Phoenix region because existing urban patterns have always been dominated by the accommodation of the automobile.