The Future (according to the 1950’s)

So apparent in 1958, according to this clip, the future was a move away from city life full of diversity, to the wonderful world of mega-highways and sub-urban isolation. There is a point in the clip where the working man (not woman, the wife is at the mall) gets from his house to his office without leaving the comfort of his “car”.

There are a few interesting things about the clips and its future. First, we did end up with freeways and suburbs (we even did urban clearing which was called urban renewal.) The difference is, we realized we were on the wrong track in the 1970’s and are still fighting for sustainable cities today. Second, the world of the future didn’t care about energy use or the environmental impact of 12 lane mega-highways. In the clip, there is a highway machine that changes the nature into a parking lots. I’m sure back in the day it made people feel are warm and fuzzy, but it made me feel a bit sick. Finally, there is no traffic on the highway… hmmm.