City of Tomorrow!  

no jetpack
exactly. maybe as a society we're all so disillusioned and bitter because of the unfulfilled expectations that we're afraid to keep dreaming, stretching, imagining -- for fear of yet more disappointment.
instead we tend toward the path of least resistance, we value safety more than adventure, and esteem predictable mediocrity over risky excellence.
would someone please color outside the lines a little!
and where's the sexy robot bringing me my toast in the morning?

Oh and by the way
I wasn't suggesting that most of the modern 'city of tomorrow' concepts weren't all beautiful, but I was pointing out the problems systemic in a lot of these designs.
Most people are now buying more traditional houses and gutting them to make a more modern open look.
There was a standard Dutch colonial not far from my house that they did just that; they knocked down walls and doubled the size of the living room and basement rumpus room by putting up architectual ceiling braces. It really looked beautiful. There were only two problems; they didn't both to get rid of the radiators and the hot water furnace (which provided almost no wall space) and they were asking $550,000!