A cross street in Indigo, a master-planned community outside Houston that tries to foster connection. Kiara Aponte and Samir Husain loved their Tudor-style house in a Houston suburb but found no neighborly interaction. Beyond their property line, nobody walked sidewalks; they identified neighbors only by cars in driveways.

In 2024, two years after paying $280,000 and moving in, they left for better neighbors. The couple shared their story during lunch at Della Coffee & Wine, the social hub of Indigo. Indigo sits 30 miles from downtown Houston, next to a cow pasture and a prison.

Despite suburban location, the development has a village feel. Aponte and Husain live along a car-free parkway with sidewalk plantings and strolling neighbors instead of a wall of cars. Developers use phrases like "emotional reliability" and "community as an amenity" to describe buyers' desires for connection.

In California, Silverwood asks residents to sign a kindness pledge. Firefly in Utah markets slow streets and parks as an alternative to screen time. Developers trade empty clubhouses for working farms and marketing halls designed around neighborly collisions.

About 275 homes of a planned 692 have been built along streets with names like Kindred Way. Ms. Aponte and Mr. Husain now live in a duplex with a grass backyard. By the numbers, it is a step down from the Tudor; the space is smaller and they share a wall. They also lost money on the old house and forfeited an ultralow interest rate for a high one. Mr. Husain said it was worth it because everything has been pleasant and happy.