Car-Free Arizona Neighborhood Designed to Combat Summer Heat: Culdesac

The Arizona heat can also cause severe burns from contact with outdoor surfaces that can be as scorching as 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

Enter Culdesac, a car-free community in Tempe that is combatting the area’s heat problem with a neighborhood built to cool.

The neighborhood, where cars are banned and residents get around with public transit and electric bikes, opened in 2023. A company representative told Business Insider that the 17-acre block houses 200 people, but the company is aiming for 1,000 residents.

I recently got a tour of Culdesac, where I anticipated open street paths, shops, and amenities residents could walk to.

And I found all of that. But I didn’t expect to feel cooler on the block than on the surrounding streets.

During my tour, I learned that Culdesac feels about 15 degrees colder than the city’s temperature, thanks to initiatives by the housing startup during the building process.