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This study explored North American society's futuristic visions of homes and how these visions have linked with technology, society, and culture over the past 50 years. It is important to understand society's vision of the home in the future, as it has significant social and cultural implications for residential design and development. Understanding North Americans' vision of the "home of tomorrow" provides insight into how residential design and domestic technology have evolved and persevered. The evolution of the home of the future helps us understand relationships between consumption and identity, political stakes, and gender roles.
Findings
 Recognize the social and functional implications of technology in residential design.
Be aware that the way media presents visions of future homes can preserve or change past values about the home, identity (gender roles), and technology.
Key Concepts
Several past concepts of "the home of the future" are also promoted in the media today: technology as labour saving; purchasing high-tech items to achieve modernity; technology as capable of creating a utopian space; the housewife as domestic labourer; the house as an escape for men; and residential technology as a way of displaying "class."
The aesthetic and utilitarian appeal of gadgets in the home has been popularized over the years to the extent that the view of the "future home" has shifted from a "house full of gadgets" to the "house as a gadget."
There has been a shift in residential technology from focusing on automated gadgets (vacuums, blenders) to digital gadgets ("smart" technology and networked computer chips).
While many changes have occurred in terms of the type of technology in the home over the last 50 years, many of the social and cultural values of the past have been preserved.
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