Car-Free Housing The Prototype For The Future?

A major developer uses an innovative design minimizing the impact of cars on an apartment complex, suggesting that the market is ready for such change.

1 minute read

October 17, 2003, 6:00 AM PDT

By David Gest

Big builder Shea Homes City Lights apartment complex in Southern California is different. Most notably, the site contains a centralized parking structurearound which the housing wraps like a square doughnut. Pedestrian bridges link the parking structure to units on all four levels, and in all four directions. This innovation frees the rest of the design from traditional car-related constraints, allowing for anything from courtyard design to small, pedestrian-only streets. The result: a model for dense (50-units-per-acre) housing more appealing to the middle class. Could this and related projects be the key to injecting higher-density projects into the mainstream?

Thanks to David Gest

FULL STORY: Big Builder Provides Car-Free Housing Innovation

Tuesday, October 14, 2003 in California Planning and Development Report

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