Less Cars, More Money: My Visit to the City of the Future

Mr. Money Mustache strives to serve as your go-to Lifestyle Guru resource, covering not just financial matters but also topics like health and fitness as well as psychology behind better and happier living.

One area of life where all these factors come together with almost nuclear-fusing efficiency and effectiveness, is where I would make my wish if granted one wish only: It’s an undertaking so big it would improve life on our planet dramatically, fixing most problems simultaneously in one go – and likely not what people expect;

That we quickly transition to creating cities and countries centered on people instead of cars.

Fix our existing structures so they are designed for person-centric living environments).

The potential advantages are immeasurable; far beyond any simple environmental gains or traffic jam reduction or car collision mitigation. No. It means ensuring healthier living environments for everyone involved as well as greater enjoyment in everyday living situations.

Put simply, our conservative estimate indicates an estimated annual life boost of over $20,000. That adds up to over two million dollars over one adult life!

On a national level, this would increase wealth across America by approximately seven trillion dollars each year – that adds up to over $770 trillion over 50 years!

Which exceeds the current global wealth total.

City design dominates globally in terms of economic importance.

Your house will become cheaper yet more beautiful and spacious; while your body and brain become stronger with less healthcare expenses.

All our wallets and investment accounts, both public and private, will soon be bulging with surplus income, reduced expenses and an unprecedented investment and prosperity boom that fuels an unparalleled period of prosperity in human history.

City planning may appear like something of an afterthought for most residents; something the council does in the background while we go about living our lives. But while city planners and city council members might see city planning as something less exciting to worry about than other departments do for us all to worry about (i.e. traffic lights or road repairs), what you may really mean when people inquire is: WTF!? (With City planning being such an intangible topic).

Well, yes. And that is precisely the point: cities are designed by people whose sole job is to maintain the status quo and prevent disruptions; their elections and support come from crusty old companies or organizations, or plain-old angry neighbors without vision enough to see what lies beyond.

I believe if we could all see through the fog of status quo, everyone would realize this idea for radical change is both best and necessary for consideration.

So our job is to explore and communicate just how massive yet manageable this undertaking can be, which, ultimately, boils down to something quite straightforward and simple.

Let’s start here and take a closer look. Here is our first picture.

Wow, that came as quite an unpleasant shock.

So for an equal space footprint you could either live comfortably in a two bedroom apartment, or park two (smaller) cars safely and pull them in and out easily. But this gets even stranger – check out my own city here to witness its beauty:

On a good traffic day, it can take less than an hour for drivers to breeze right past this intersection of roughly 250×250 feet; yet this vacant 1.5 acres could actually provide space to accommodate 200 people comfortably!

Every time two large car roads converge – which occurs hundreds of times every city – enough space is lost that could have been used for building luxurious resort-like living areas with 100 two-bedroom apartments, plus features like pools, dog parks, grocery stores and several restaurants – that would still leave room to create luxurious resort-like living environments!

At first glance, this seems ridiculous; after all, I have only shown you two parking spots and an intersection. Our cities consist primarily of expensive waste space like this!

Phoenix is an obsessional car culture. Large parking garages and lots, roads clogged with vehicles – everything seems wasted (I took these images during an exploratory walk during work day hours.).

At its root, our problem is so extreme that most of our space has been wasted accommodating cars; as a result, all activity (and its dangers) has spread so widely out, no one feels inclined to walk or bike!

At every new idea you suggest, someone is bound to raise objections without ever considering its feasibility first. These smartasss are quick to complain without considering all aspects.

Most of them come down to this:

“But how are we to continue driving our cars as much?”

Which is absurd since cutting out all these unnecessary spaces created to house cars allows us to reduce dependence upon them!

Create your very own city by designing it as you please; complete with offices, grocery stores, climbing gyms and every amenity available in it.

Yes, some roads would remain between them but their use would primarily be reserved for deliveries, emergency vehicles and people needing mobility assistance.

Please don’t make me take the bus?

Exploring some of the 60+ Electric Bikes available at HQ of America’s first car-free neighborhood.

Public transit may seem appealing in theory, but I rarely have the patience for it in practice. Lineups frustrate me; waiting around passively for transportation takes too long when there’s somewhere I need to be fast! Therefore my preferred mode is usually biking (under 2 miles) or an e-bike (15+).

car drivers might find this surprising, but bikes are indeed faster for urban transport than cars; plus, riding gives me exercise and thrill compared to waiting at red lights with cars!

Take an already superior form of urban transport and subtract out 90% of land used by inferior cars; and it becomes revolutionary: everyone reaches their destinations faster at much reduced costs while having much more fun in doing it!

Yes, cities like this will still feature light rail and faster buses; yes, Uber rides or personal vehicle ownership is still an option; but these incidents will occur much less frequently.

Well I am convinced, but how do we actually implement this solution?

Mr. Money Mustache may put on an elaborate show with all his grand words and images, but I’m far too impatient with all the bureaucracy and complaints associated with trying to change cities. Even after doing all that work here in Longmont I still seem unable to make progress; more layers of car crap keeps building up around where I reside!

Other people are far better than I at creating change; one group in Tempe has made such remarkable strides that you can now experience their first project: Culdesac Tempe. I spent two days touring, visiting, and interviewing its founders* before writing this.

Clockwise: Culdesac office transformed their own parking lot into a mini park! Head of marketing Blythe Ingwersen and co-founders Jeff Berens and Ryan Johnson showed me around their mini park before lending me their Porsche e-bike for an enjoyable city tour!

Tracy Royce from Phoenix-area house-fixing services and I also hosted an engaging meetup of Culdesac residents interested in house repair/home improvements right there at Culdesac’s central plaza.

Culdesacs Are Amazing and Could Change Everything

Financial spreadsheets could lead one to believe this initial Culdesac project will simply consist of an uninspiring 1000-person apartment cluster built across 17 acres, but money alone won’t guarantee success here. Instead, realizing its promise and finding ways for its use are much more captivating features of success for this model than being rich.

As you compare these pictures with traditional housing developments, one thing stands out immediately – all of the space normally used as parking lots is instead used for beautiful walking and gathering areas.

Next up was that they included amenities for daily life within the neighborhood itself rather than forcing future residents into cars to go find them:

Grocery store with products similar to those sold at Trader Joe’s but at more of an economy level.

Fantastic gym (that I got the privilege of touring!) I loved every second.

Coworking space, dog park and pool facilities. Also offered: outdoor kitchens and shade structures as well as garden areas galore.

Semi-Fancy Mexican restaurant offering ample patio seating space

Plans call for construction of significantly increased retail space as part of their plans.

At an early stage when everything is still under construction, I was struck by how enjoyable walking through Mediterranean-flavored spaces between buildings felt.

Due to the hot desert climate of this region, everything in its design focuses around providing shade, breeze and reflecting heat during the heat of summer; also taking full advantage of not having winter there (even February typically reaches an average daily high temperature of 65F/18C; meaning palm trees, lush gardens with fruits and flowers remain alive year-round.)

Culdesac offers residents such an ideal setting: with over 1,000 new neighbors to meet and a light rail stop just steps from my place, I rarely feel the need to leave Culdesac’s location – cutting my need for car use significantly! Additionally, Culdesac is strategically situated within Tempe – right at the core of Phoenix metro area within walking distance from main universities as well as within an annual pass for accessing public transit systems which makes reaching almost everything (even airport) free!

However, you have multiple modes of transportation available to you including walking, bicycling (pedelecs or otherwise), scootering or Culdesac’s fleet of rideshare electric cars for trips into the mountains or other activities outside the scope of biking and transit services.

At first sight it seems amazing and so great, that I am considering moving there myself at the end of 2023, for both an escape from Colorado winter as well as celebrating that my son will finally become legally independent at that point in his life.

But even this project is only the first of many Culdesac has planned.

Culdesac Master Plan
An early sketch from Culdesac’s architecture firm Optico Design. Isn’t it amazing what can fit in one Big Box shopping center parking lot?

Through my discussions with the founders, it seems they wish to do this:

Start small-scale with rentals as it will help the process move more quickly.

Utilize this to promote yourself and learn from experience before expanding to larger operations.

Make the next step into larger communities offering homes for sale.

Imagine going BIG: create an entire section of a city, then an entire town which eventually expands into an entire city!

Assuade other US cities and states to follow your lead when they see that this kind of neighborhood offers multiple advantages – better living space for individuals while cost-cutting construction processes make this type of neighborhood both desirable and cost-effective, thus more profitable to build.

So how can we leverage and support this movement?

We need more of this! If this article provided any unexpected new knowledge or altered your perspective in any way, then congratulations – you have already made an impactful difference by shifting choices around housing and transportation away from cars a little bit, which in turn alters future demand patterns a little better than before. Thank you and best of luck with that journey!

Are you eager to be one of the pioneers of this first neighborhood? Sign up on their website, https://culdesac.com/, as soon as you have a flexible moving date; there will likely be an increasing waiting list as people sign up!

If you want to help make your city an improved environment for everyone living within its borders, start contacting your city council via email, or sign up as a planning board or city councilmember yourself as the heroic Twitter user did above. Push for approval of more housing units and bike paths as well as for reduced minimum parking requirements as well as ending road expansion projects that waste precious financial resources! Every dollar wasted accommodating cars represents money lost from future growth of wealth within a city’s wealth pool.

Are You an Investor (Investor of $10M or greater), Landowner (20+ acres in high density city), or both looking to Invest In this Initiative and Support its Goals, Reach Out Directly: [email protected] for further info – More can also be found on their About page

What Will Our Return Be?

This tremendous change is exciting and immense.

Understanding urban planning concepts is like being a doctor: you find a 35-year-old patient in hospital suffering from every chronic ailment known to man, only to realize they’ve lived off Coke and donuts their entire lives and never ventured outdoors once!

Simply stated, changes are so obvious and win/win synergies so significant, that every step we take toward improving cities or cutting car trips will increase both personal and national wealth for generations to come.

The stakes couldn’t possibly be higher.

Are You Are you part of it all? Are You Participant of this? Are You an agent for change in this environment? Are You ready? Are You involved? Are You ready for something more? Are You in?
Further Reading: Local friend Kevin Dahlstrom’s Twitter rant about creating car free cities from scratch generated overwhelming positive reactions and lively exchanges of opinions on Twitter. His message generated incredible levels of praise as well as many intriguing and informative comments – one can find this man anywhere around town he’d likely welcome the chance for some one-on-one time with Kevin at any event or gathering!

*Despite my enthusiastic reviews about this neighborhood, I do not have any financial or business ties to its team members; rather I am simply passionate about their efforts and eagerly wish them success!