By Ariel Schwartz

Imagine a skyscraper that floats. Or one that slowly rebuilds the polar ice caps. These concept towers all find bizarre ways to house everyone who is moving to cities--but they're a lot more than just places to live.

As the world's population moves into cities in the coming decades, tall buildings will become ever more important. Each year, eVolo Magazine challenges architects to predict what that skyscraper-filled future will look like. Since its launch in 2006, the Skyscraper Competition has attracted over 5,000 entries.

As eVolo explains, the entries all manage to "challenge the way we understand vertical architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments."

Like the entries in years past, the 2013 winners and honorable mentions have little chance of being built any time soon--the technologies aren't yet real. But in 50 years? The winning entry, a skyscraper that rebuilds arctic ice caps, might not seem so strange. On the other hand, it might look like futuristic predictions from the 1950s: a quaint idea of what the future may hold.

Check out the full list of winners and runners-up here.

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