Stop Rewind Housing

Stop. Rewind: Housing

As we hurtle headlong into the digital age, Stop. Rewind pauses to ponder how far we have come.

The 80s generation had no dot.coms and digital - a future they imagined has been transformed by a technology revolution.

Welcome to Stop. Rewind - a short history of the modern world - charting the good and bad of a quarter century of innovation.

From the giant leap forward in technology from the mid-1980s to the beginning of the 21st century, Stop. Rewind explores those ideas, discoveries, breakthroughs, dead-ends and eureka moments that shaped the latter part of the 20th century and laid the groundwork for the 21st.

Each themed episode shows the development of a tech industry, documenting how each latched onto new technology, materials, and designs to eventually become the common gadgets, goods and services we know today.

The 21st century home promised every labour-saving device you could think of - instant buildings, instant meals, instant clean! We had sensors tracking our every move, opening doors, turning on lights, and dimming the sound.

Our best friend, the computer, assured us the weather was good and announced our mail … and the house was teeming with robots to do all the dirty work.

Even the garden had its own robot! The reality? All we want is a roof over our heads ... and a widescreen TV! However, great innovations have been made with advanced building materials, urban sprawl, and alternative architecture.

Stop. Rewind: Housing
Wednesday's at 6:00pm
ABC2