Building H Index

 

Culdesac

 
 

INDUSTRY

housing

Category

apartment management and development

products Profiled

apartment development built and managed by Culdesac

 
 

H-Score

 

82

ranked 1st of 7 within housing industry

ranked 1st of 37 overall

 
 

product description

 

Culdesac is building and managing the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US. The 1,000-person development is based in Tempe, Arizona, and is set to welcome its first residents in Summer 2022. Culdesac will not provide residential parking spaces or allow privately owned cars in its development.

 
 

influence on health-related behaviors

 
 

EATING

slight to moderate positive influence

 

Proximity to grocery stores with healthy food options can positively influence eating habits. One metric of a neighborhood’s food environment is whether it is characterized by the USDA as “low access to food stores.”(1) Culdesac’s Tempe development will include a Street Corner Urban Market, a small fresh food grocery and convenience store, within a 5-minute walk.(2) Culdesac notes that 10% of the store will be reserved for fresh foods. The neighborhood is not considered a USDA low-access neighborhood.

 

opportunities:

  • Review the food environment – both access to fresh foods and prevalence of unhealthy food outlets – as part of the decision of where to locate future properties. Use the potential of aggregated demand that a new apartment property would create to encourage investment in local fresh food outlets like grocery stores.
  • Facilitate home cooking through:
    • experimentation with provision of indoor hydroponic gardening appliances
    • establishment of community gardens within properties
    • partnerships to provide discounted memberships to local community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms
    • partnerships to provide discounted grocery delivery services or meal kit subscriptions
    • experimentation with the promotion of food sharing apps to help residents share excess groceries
 
 

PHYSICAL ACTVITY

moderate to strong positive influence

 

Culdesac’s influence on physical activity derives from its focus on shifting transportation habits away from automobiles and towards more active modes of transportation, including bicycles, scooters and public transportation. 

Being a car-free neighborhood, Culdesac has placed a heavy emphasis on micromobility, with scooters situated throughout the neighborhood such that residents will never be more than a 1-minute walk away from one.(3) It will have parking spaces for 1,000 bikes -- one per person. For travel outside the neighborhood, it will offer discounts on Lyft car share and free rides on the Phoenix Metro.

 
 

Sleeping

slight positive influence

 

Culdesac notes that it has designed its buildings with three sides of natural light, which is more than typical apartment buildings, thus offering more daylight exposure to its residents. There is some evidence that daylight exposure through windows can positively affect sleep.(4)

To the extent that Culdesac’s design influences physical activity and time spent outdoors, it could indirectly influence sleep as both of those behaviors are positively correlated with better sleep.

 

opportunities:

  • Promote healthy circadian rhythms by installing circadian LED lighting systems that adjust color temperature to mimic natural light throughout the day
  • Monitor indoor air quality, as it has shown to influence sleep(5) and mitigate where it is poor.
  • Provide smart thermostats and appropriate instructions in order to optimize nighttime temperatures for better sleep.
  • Use soundproofing and other acoustic design techniques, such as sound-absorbing materials, to reduce noise that could interfere with sleep.
 
 

Engaging Socially

moderate positive influence

 

Culdesac’s emphasis on walkability and local attractions should create opportunities for casual social interaction amongst its residents. Most of the renderings seen on Culdesac’s website highlight shared common areas, parks/pools, and even centralized courtyards.

 

opportunities:

  • Offer regular social programming – events designed to bring neighbors together.
 
 

Getting Outdoors

moderate to strong positive influence

 

Culdesac’s renderings on its website highlight shared outdoor common spaces, such as a pool, a dog park and “outdoor living rooms.”

Its design as a walkable “5-minute city” would seem to facilitate spending time outdoors.

Access to public parks can also encourage people to go outdoors. Culdesac’s Tempe location is within a 10-minute walk from a public park.(6) In addition to the public park, Culdesac will provide a half acre park within the development.

 
 
 
 

Notes

 

  1. The “low-access to food” designation means that a significant portion of residents of the Census tract are more than one mile (if urban) or more than 10 miles (if rural) from the nearest supermarket or large grocery store. See U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Food Access Research Atlas: Measuring Access to Food.

  2. Culdesac website

  3. Culdesac Tempe Announces First-of-its-Kind Mobility Program to Make Car-Free Living a Reality. BusinessWire, September 8, 2021

  4. M. Boubekri et al. Impact of Windows and Daylight Exposure on Overall Health and Sleep Quality of Office Workers: A Case-Control Pilot Study. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Volume 10, Issue 06.

  5. Tereza Pultarova. Trouble Sleeping? Air Pollution Could Be the Culprit. Live Science. May 24, 2017

  6. Based on a geographical analysis using ParkServe, a tool provided by the Trust for Public Land.