Russia has a grand plan to solve numerous problems of the East. Overpopulation, lack of education, power problems, you name it. It seems like the only downside to this insane plan is the cost. The tower is to be an estimated $150 Billion USD, and currently is planned at 2 miles tall, and a mile across. So what's the real reason one would build a tower of this scale? Well it's said that the planet will be entirely overpopulated within the coming century. This implies that we as a species have occupied all land mass. As it currently stands, we prevent ourselves from building and destroying many natural habitats as is. So besides killing off people past the age of 45, this seems to be a valid answer. Build up. A massive part of this tower concept, is to create ecosystems in a controlled environment, in order to sustain not only human life, but animal and plant life as well. Special mirror-like windows that trap the suns rays and reflect them, as they would be experienced in the world naturally, inside. The tower isn't just going to be part greenhouse, it's also going to house large scale bodies of water, and rivers among a good portion of it. Now some people are probably thinking "okay, cool it's going to be a miniature planet, but how do you plan to link it together? To get around?" well there's an answer for that too. A train like elevator. The elevator is suppose to be a vertical high-speed train system. Comfort? Not a problem, Ultima Tower will have non-mechanical heating/ventilating and air conditioning. It will use the water within the tower to power water generators, among other built in power supplies, like windmills. That's right, windmills in the tower. Everything in the tower is going to be powered by hydrogen gas, electrical or water powered, and all heating and cooling will be regulated by the plants and trees. Oh the plants again, now you may ask "What about the rain? Plants need that too!" Yes. They do, and believe me, there's a large intricate system of how the water is handled in the tower, a portion of it will go from river to plants, or river to a sprinkler system in case of fire.
Alright now, what are the thoughts? Is Eugene Tsui going to build the Utopia the world will most likely need? Is this going to be a spark to more Towers? Is this going to become the theme for the next Suzanne Collins book? Well if it's pulled off, and can sustain itself as well as the design says so, my answer says yes. People are always looking for the next answer to the problems to large scale for them.
Links to the articles if you'd like to read them yourselves :
http://www.gizmag.com/ultima-tower-eugene-tsui-population-challenge/9262/
http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/
http://www.tdrinc.com/ultima.html
