Where a car is useless, the tiniest flat is adequate, and everyone has roommates. The very concept of suburban extravagance is passe, if not in bad taste. The consumer culture and the mass market may be a thing of the past. Good riddance.

Most of the population of the world will be urban, all they really need to live well is electric light, hot running water, a sewage hookup, a place to plug in their devices, and mass transportation, or even better, the ability to work from home.

Upscale movers and shakers already live this way in Manhattan, with instant access to entertainment, culture and the arts, education, social connection, professional advancement, and urban diversity. The concepts of property and real estate may be on their way out.

Ironic twist to the American dream, eh? Maybe the hippies were right after all.