The winning applicant will be responsible for designing, constructing, owning and managing the property as part of the housing department's model for developing city-owned property.

CNN: Tiny homes hit the big city

If the methods of reducing a city's carbon footprint are known there is still the question of the means, which vary wildly between the first world urban areas such as Seoul, London and Toronto, and other attendees from cities in the developing world, such as Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Lagos, Nigeria.

CNN: Bill Clinton to cities: Act on climate

Even as the Danes, Spanish and Germans were cornering the market in turbines, the City of London was developing green-energy services.

ECONOMIST: Renewable energy

Visit any burgeoning city in the developing world from Shanghai to Mexico City and the same reality emerges: as cities get larger, they spread out, as people begin to aspire, as best they can, for the quality of life that most North Americans and Europeans already take for granted.

FORBES: Megacities And The Density Delusion: Why More People Doesn't Equal More Wealth

It is hoped it will constitute a reference point for policy makers at the local level, as well a basis for the exchange of knowledge between researchers, city professionals and local authorities on developing inclusive cities.

UNESCO: All Events | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

As part of the CCN a city is encouraged to support other cities, particularly those in developing countries, in nurturing their creative economy.

UNESCO: UK National Commission for UNESCO :: Creative Cities Network

The South Korean capital city, awash in economic exuberance, is developing as a design, fashion and technology centre, and is breaking out as a key business hub.

BBC: Business trip: Seoul

Twenty years ago it was a run-down city in a developing country which barely registered on the economic Richter scale, let alone as a global hub for air travel.

BBC: Could airport hub capacity see UK lose out to rivals?