Mr Maher is the winner of the Australian Institute of Architects 2009 Gold Medal and will present his ideas on Wednesday night at the Australian National University.

Mr Maher, the principal of Sydney architectural firm HASSELL, says when it comes to the climate change debate, not much attention has been paid to design and planning issues.

''The debate is a fairly general one and it hasn't really got down to the impact of the way that we live in cities, the way we move around, and the way that buildings are designed,'' he said.

''Design does become increasingly important as densities increase and as cities mature.''

Mr Maher said the challenge lay in maintaining a high quality of life, even as cities become denser.

''People will be living closer together and when you have density, the design of the city becomes really important [in terms of] public space, the quality of the places where people inhabit, and the way buildings relate to each other and impact on each other.''

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