What will San Francisco look like in 2108?

Taking home the History Channel's $10,000 prize for designing the "City of the Future," we have IwamotoScott's vision of San Francisco in 2108.

Sometimes we talk about technologies a few years down the road, but we like to keep stuff grounded here at EcoGeek. Looking more than 30 years into the future has always turned out to be craptastically inaccurate.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that this kind of vision is useless. While some elements -- like giant carbon nanotube algae towers and underground hovercar highways -- are fairly insane, thinking of the survival of our cities in the face of continued growth is pretty important.

I say hovercars are crazy because I don't really think they'll ever provide an advantage over traditional cars (especially not underground). And if we're going to have giant algae plants, I assume we'll build them outside of the city where land is exponentially cheaper. So we don't have to build giant carbon nanotube towers to house them.

Nonetheless, the elements of the plan that make sense make great sense. Pulling energy from the sun and storing it in algae on a large scale? Excellent.

Powering the city of San Francisco with local underground geothermal power? Fantastic.

Taking the load off the rivers and ocean with moisture collectors a la Tatooine? Absolutely fabulous.

Indeed, I think it deserves the $10,000 grand prize, even if I don't think humanity is ever going to graduate to the hovercar...

(O Future! Please prove me wrong!)

Via Inhabitat