Housing for People, Not Cars
The War on Cars
The War on Cars, LLC
4.9 • 937 Ratings
🗓️ 22 February 2021
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What would it be like to walk out of your home and see other people instead of cars? Can you imagine opening your door and letting your kids run around outside independently? Residents of Cully Green — a 23-home community in Portland, Oregon developed specifically to encourage a car-free or car-light way of life — don't have to imagine it. They're living a life more akin to the idealized version of the suburbs of the past than the reality often found across the country today. Why are developments like this so unusual? Because in most of America it's illegal to build thanks to single-family zoning. So is Cully Green the kind of thing that could only work in Portland because, you know… Portland? Or is this a model for building better cities and better communities all across the country?
***This episode was sponsored in part by our friends at Cleverhood. For 20% off of stylish, functional rain gear designed specifically for walking and biking — and 30% off their new anorak rain jacket — enter coupon code WARONCARS at checkout.***
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SHOW NOTES:
More about living at Cully Green and Cully Grove, including the bees and chickens.
14 urban planners weigh in on the single-family zoning debate. (Sidewalk Talk)
Community advocacy group Living Cully works to keep the neighborhood affordable and accessible.
Questioning the single-family ideal. (New York Times)
Rethinking the American Dream. (Washington Post)
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This episode was produced by Sarah Goodyear and edited by Ali Lemer. Our music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo is by Dani Finkel of Crucial D.
Find us on Twitter: @TheWarOnCars, Doug Gordon @BrooklynSpoke, Sarah Goodyear @buttermilk1, Aaron Naparstek @Naparstek.
Questions, comments or suggestions? Email us: thewaroncars@gmail.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I feel like we are living a life that's more similar to my dad's life in Chicago in the 50s growing up |
| 0:10.7 | than most Americans' lives today. |
| 0:14.4 | I think the most important thing about Coley Green is that it's illegal to build it almost |
| 0:18.0 | anywhere in the United States. Hello and welcome to the War on Cars. I'm Sarah Goodyear. A few weeks ago a friend sent me an adorable video of her four-year-old grandson Barney |
| 0:34.6 | riding his bike for the first time without training wheels, around and around in front of |
| 0:38.8 | his house. |
| 0:39.8 | Nothing so special about that, right? Except there was. |
| 0:44.0 | Because the reason this little guy could ride so freely |
| 0:47.0 | and his parents could focus on capturing the moment |
| 0:50.0 | was that there are no cars driving past the front of their home. |
| 0:53.8 | No cars at all. |
| 0:55.1 | No road or street where they're allowed to go or could even go by mistake. |
| 0:59.4 | No driveways. |
| 1:01.1 | No Cars. |
| 1:04.6 | This little family lives in a brand new housing development in Portland, Oregon called |
| 1:08.5 | Cully Green. |
| 1:10.0 | It's a variation on what's known as co-housing, which in this case means that people live in small connected town |
| 1:15.8 | homes around a shared open courtyard. |
| 1:19.6 | There's a common building that residents can use if they want to throw a party and need more space if |
| 1:24.3 | there's not a global pandemic of course there are also guest rooms you can book for |
| 1:28.6 | visiting friends and family part of the lot is set aside for communal gardening. |
| 1:33.0 | There's a laundry room for people who don't have washers and dryers in their homes. |
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