Nearly Car-free Housing Development: A Radical Experiment

Hayward, which is an East Bay suburb of San Francisco, has laid the groundwork for a nearly car-free housing development for environmentally conscious living.

1 minute read

June 9, 2009, 6:00 AM PDT

By Liyuan Huang


"Quarry Village is a proposed 1,000-unit neighborhood that would fill a former quarry near Cal State East Bay and 1 1/2 miles from the Hayward BART Station. It's the brainchild of Sherman Lewis, a professor emeritus in political science at Cal State East Bay who created a nonprofit organization to promote the idea with local officials, investors and developers.

The village pushes the envelope of the "smart growth" philosophy, which de-emphasizes the automobile by creating new development near public transit. In recent years, a handful of projects in Europe, the United States and elsewhere have discouraged auto use by narrowing streets, cutting parking and pushing transit alternatives. Projects also are reducing energy use and emissions from building materials, heating and cooling systems."

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