Culdesac Tempe Promised Car-Free Living, But Can It Actually Pull It Off?

Despite many people’s insistence that no one wants to live in a shoebox surrounded by other people, odds are, many of the most expensive apartments in your city are located in the most walkable areas. Walkable communities don’t have to be pricey inherently, but even in the U.S., the demand is so high, it often drives prices through the roof. Culdesac Tempe was pitched as a new community designed from the ground up to be walkable and more importantly, car-free. Can that even work in sprawling Tempe, Arizona?

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The Jalopnik travel budget is a little empty right now, or otherwise I would have given Culdesac a visit myself. Thankfully, my good friend* Ray Delahanty has that CityNerd YouTube money and recently spent some time in Arizona, including Tempe. And conveniently, he made a video about it so we can all get a look at how Culdesac is shaping up.

(*He has no idea who I am, but I like his videos.)

If you’re not familiar with Tempe, it’s a suburb in the Phoenix metro area. And if you know anything about Phoenix, you know it’s been built around driving. Part of what makes Culdesac work, though, is that Tempe is actually more walkable and bikeable than Phoenix. Thanks, Arizona State University! Plus, while light rail service isn’t expansive, it does connect to the airport, meaning you don’t necessarily have to drive to and from Sky Harbor.

Of course, like almost any U.S. city, the urban feel is going to vary depending on where you are, but by building in Tempe, Culdesac had some advantages it wouldn’t have had in Phoenix or other similar cities. That said, it’s not 100 percent car-free. There isn’t any residential parking, but presumably in an attempt to attract more businesses to the development, the developers did add some parking for visitors. Even when it’s fully built out, there still may not be enough residents to keep those shops and restaurants in business, so it makes sense. If you want to park there overnight, though, prepare to pay for the privilege.

Since Culdesac is supposed to be car-free, it also includes a lot of bike racks. At first glance, all the empty racks might suggest that residents aren’t really biking all that much. Then again, when it’s over 100 degrees every day in the height of the summer, it just makes more sense to store your bike inside where you don’t have to worry about getting burned by hot metal.

Currently, Culdesac is only partially completed, but even without every single shop and restaurant open and operating, it sounds like a pretty great spot. There’s already a grocery store with a lot of Korean snacks and treats, coffee shop, bike shop, and a Mexican restaurant with more coming later.

The most interesting thing about Culdesac, though, might actually be the way it’s laid out. Because Arizona is often hotter than Satan’s ass crack, the buildings were designed to maximize shade, and they used surface materials designed to minimize heat. Leaving your apartment in the middle of the summer is still going to be hot, but it won’t be nearly as hot as it could have been if everything was more spread out to make room for parking.

Is this going to work for everyone? Of course not. Still, it’s a neat experiment, and I can’t help but feel like if Culdesac can be successful in a Phoenix suburb, we’re going to see similar developments start popping up elsewhere.

I Visited Culdesac Tempe and I Have Thoughts