No cars? No problem: This is the neighborhood in Tempe, Arizona that’s a pedestrian paradise

The word “cul-de-sac” has been borrowed into English from French as another term for a dead-end street, the kind you’re usually better off avoiding when driving.

It is, of course, no accident that Culdesac is also the name of the first modern car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the United States.

A car-free experiment in car-centric Phoenix

Ironically, Culdesac is a mixed-use development in Tempe, part of metropolitan Phoenix, where owning a car is almost essential because of the city’s notoriously limited public transit system.

Culdesac was designed by architect Daniel Parolek, who drew inspiration from visits to villages and towns in France and Italy. Resident Sheryl Murdock, however, compares the neighborhood to picturesque spots in Greece, thanks to its narrow streets, low white buildings, and, most importantly, its lack of traffic.

“These are places that were built prior to the automobile, so they were designed around accommodating people,” Parolek said.

A return to pedestrian-first living

The invention of the car shifted urban design, but today there are signs of a global return to pedestrian-friendly communities, as people grow weary of traffic, pollution, and car-dominated cities.

Construction on Culdesac began in 2023. The 17-acre development is built as a “15-minute city,” where residents can access most of their daily needs, by walking, biking, or public transit, within 15 minutes.

Shops, gyms, and street life

Culdesac already offers eateries, shops, a doctor’s office, a dog park, a pool, a gym, a co-working space, and even a Korean convenience store. The design prioritizes street life, made possible by the absence of circulating cars.

While residents enjoy a different pace of life, the environment also benefits. Studies show adopting a car-free lifestyle can significantly reduce an individual’s carbon footprint. Once fully built, Culdesac is projected to prevent 3,000 tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere each year, once all 1,000 planned residents have moved in.

Designed for comfort in the desert

The community is also designed to adapt to Arizona’s extreme heat. Like Mediterranean towns, the buildings are painted white to reflect sunlight, while their close spacing creates shade and encourages airflow. This design helps reduce reliance on air conditioning.

A model for the future

Developers are already planning similar projects elsewhere in the United States. With growing interest, the concept of 15-minute cities could become an increasingly common model for communities of the future.

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