Kea Wilson wrote:

Private developers have pursued similar concepts in the past, like the much blogged-about Culdesac development in Tempe, which will bundle a package of non-automotive mobility options into the price of rent when it opens later this year. But the Utah site may be the first publicly-sponsored project to pursue a car-light model, as well as the first U.S. community explicitly planned around the concept of the “15-minute city” from the ground up — a term coined by Franco-Colombian mobility expert Carlos Moreno to describe towns where residents can reach most of the destinations they rely on via a short walk, bike or transit trip from home.

The Point aims to achieve this utopia through a range of transportation strategies that will be familiar to sustainability advocates.

Vehicle traffic will be restricted from a .125-square-mile stretch of the downtown core known as a “pedestrian priority zone,” while extensive active transportation network enables travelers to access every corner of the site without ever encountering a motor vehicle. (The handful of roads that do allow car traffic, of course, will all feature protected bikeways and sidewalks.)

Mixed-use zoning will put homes within easy reach of jobs, schools and essential services, and a dedicated city circulator — which the developers hope will be run by autonomous vehicle technology by the time the site opens — will ferry residents and visitors to destinations throughout the community, as well as to mobility hubs that provide access to car-share, bike- and scooter-share, and regional transit routes that run into adjacent cities. The leaders of the project are also exploring a “Mobility as a Service” app specific to the Point, which shows users the costs and travel times of various modes at a glance, making it obvious when driving isn’t the best choice.