“Most people are motivated more by saving money than the environment, so climate change doesn’t actually matter because if you approach it from a resource management point of view you end up at the same position,” Paul Ciniglio, Sustainability and Innovation Manager, said.

Judges believe it is smaller projects like this ones that can help turn around the fortunes of the climate change movement, left out in the cold after the failure of December's Copenhagen summit.

“We need a major breakthrough among individuals. We should not only rely on our world leaders to solve the problems. It’s about what we do today,” Sander Lap, Owner of Lap Landscape & Urban Design, said.

This part of Moscow plays home to around 9,000 families and their quality of life must be taken into account by entrants, who must also seek to maintain Moscow's architectural heritage, while trying to create the buildings of the future.

“That would be the best thing… to set up local architects who have an understanding of the cultural and historical significance of the architecture here but who are well up with the current green thinking that, from my brief experience, in Russia seems to be lagging behind the rest of Europe,” contest organizer Tom Ebdon said.

The plan that wins will be submitted to city authorities and hopefully put into practice in 2010.