Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US • Hacker News Board

Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US

#141

Post by CobrastanJorji » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 11:30 PM UTC

hamburgerwah wrote: post #59

It should be pointed out that this "neighborhood" is just a mixed use apartment complex of 760 rental units that does not currently exist yet though construction has sort of started. All pictures shown are renderings and this link is basically content marketing for it. They seem to cost ~$200-300 more per month than a market studio with parking in the same area.

From a marketing perspective, it confuses me that the main rendering on the front page of their car-free neighborhood prominently features a food truck, and most of the visible words in the picture are "truck."

I get that you want to depict walkable attractions, but couldn't it have been a small pop-up stand or some other kind of thing that is not a car?

Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US

#142

Post by ryanj20021 » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 11:35 PM UTC

baby wrote: post #118

_huayra_ wrote: post #27

These efforts seem well-intentioned but doomed to fail because it requires government action to make the rest of the area work , i.e. be more walkable / bikeable. It's great you can bike from your pricey apartment to your friend's, but try getting passed by a bunch of distracted drivers going 50mph faster than you on the arterial stroad when getting to the nearest reasonably-sized grocery store that is 10 miles away…

It needs to be an entire district, not just a few buildings.

We have over 150 buildings! And we also plan to build larger. Our goal is to build the first car free city in the US.

Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US

#143

Post by owenfi » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 11:37 PM UTC

I was looking for a general map and found one here: https://opticosdesign.com/work/culdesac-tempe/

Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US

#144

Post by hermannj314 » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 11:37 PM UTC

I think is is wonderful that builders are making good faith attempts to listen to us and make walkable communities.

I think it great for someone to do something and try to make the world a more decent place for the subset of customers that might be looking for a walkable community to live in. I selfishly hope this takes off, iterates and improves, and becomes commonplace.

Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US

#145

Post by caslon » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 11:37 PM UTC

harikb wrote: post #135

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Manhattan, for example—obviously at first it developed organically, but the upper part of the island was largely planned, with a strict grid system of streets and avenues and a large park in the center! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaIOfgz8FVY

Planning works great for public utilities- roads, libraries, parks etc. The moment we cross that are have a planned bank, grocer, retail I think it falls apart. The grocery shop needs guarantee on revenue to be setup, and then they will slack off because they won’t need to compete or innovate. People will realize once the HOA bill runs in to several hundred dollars and have to deal with shitty services. In the real w…

Alternatively in the real world, one grocery store will die because a Wal*Mart opened an hour away and is replaced by an hour's drive instead of a brief walk to pick up groceries because people can't resist a dollar cheaper and ten more in gas.

Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US

#146

Post by 6510 » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 11:42 PM UTC

kevinpet wrote: post #56

criddell wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One-bedrooms start at $1250 / month. Can a community be designed so that the people working there can also afford to live there?

People need to get off the notion that those working the most entry level jobs should be living in the newest housing.

I look at history and wonder why all of a sudden young people cant afford a home - after millions of years.

They should continue to want one. We should get rid of whatever gets in the way.

Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US

#147

Post by ryanj20021 » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 11:50 PM UTC

Founder here. Great to see the excitement people have for Culdesac and for Culdesac Tempe.

Our vision is to build the first car-free city in the US, starting with the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US.

Join our waitlist at culdesac.com. We open next year! If you want to visit in the meantime, drop me a note.

Hiring-wise, we're hiring in Tempe or remote. Our top hiring prio is to lead product design. https://www.culdesac.com/jobs

Here's our insta, which has lots of construction updates https://www.instagram.com/liveculdesac

Here's our tik tok https://www.tiktok.com/@liveculdesac

Here's our twitter https://www.twitter.com/culdesac

Here's my twitter where I also talk a lot about ebikes https://www.twitter.com/ryanmjohnson

Here's our intro article https://medium.com/culdesac/introducing-culdesac-3fbfe7c4219...

Here's a longer piece on us https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/31/business/culdesac-tempe-p...

Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US

#148

Post by flemhans » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 11:51 PM UTC

At the same time, "Master Planned" areas in actual Europe tend to be super horrible to live in, due to the detachment from what actually makes a place livable. (And the transportation part is generally already solved in Europe).

Here in Copenhagen, everybody loves the 100-200 year old areas way more than the newly built ones.

Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US

#149

Post by kortilla » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 11:56 PM UTC

caslon wrote: post #145

harikb wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Planning works great for public utilities- roads, libraries, parks etc. The moment we cross that are have a planned bank, grocer, retail I think it falls apart. The grocery shop needs guarantee on revenue to be setup, and then they will slack off because they won’t need to compete or innovate. People will realize once the HOA bill runs in to several hundred dollars and have to deal with shitty services. In the real w…

Alternatively in the real world, one grocery store will die because a Wal*Mart opened an hour away and is replaced by an hour's drive instead of a brief walk to pick up groceries because people can't resist a dollar cheaper and ten more in gas.

No, that’s not how the real world works. People go to the Walmart and deal with that misery because groceries for the week cost $100 instead of $200.

People on a budget absolutely pay attention to the cost of gas.

Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US

#150

Post by throwaway0a5e » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 11:57 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #36

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because these sorts of developments are typically trying to fill the trailer park or retirement community niches without incurring the negative baggage that comes with either.

Both of those have kids around more often than you'd think, even if it's just visiting grandkids during the summer.

>Both of those have kids around more often than you'd think,

I might know that. You might know that. But does the average yuppie DINK who is looking to move out of the city and into one of these developments know that? These seem to be positioned as the suburban equivalent of luxury condos and targeting the same demographics with their messaging.