The Escapist Elevator

"The elevator is the ultimate self-fulfilling prophesy: the further it travels upward, the more undesirable the circumstances it leaves behind." 

Is the elevator, thus, escapist? In allowing mankind to rise to a point that was unknown mere centuries ago, a point from which take in the usually unascertainable "bird's eye" view of the world, a point at which he leaves the congestion of the city streets behind, is the elevator acting not unlike the automobile of the 1950's, carrying people from the chaos of the city to the reprieve they sought in the suburbs? 

Ways of living and working in cities have changed in the last several decades, but perhaps certain attitudes or desires have on some level been preserved. Suburbanization is no longer in vogue in the way it was in the mid twentieth century. The migration of many to the suburbs has been largely curbed, as statistics have proven that Gen X-ers and Millenials alike seek the city life that their parents and grandparents fled. But, building up and peppering urban skylines with sleek skyscrapers continues to occur in cities in the US and around the world. In building up, perhaps the current urban-inclined generation still craves a certain kind of escapism from the city that the elevator affords, making them perhaps not quite as unlike their parents as they would like to think.