Soran Shangapur from Iran, who entered the idea, explained that car parks are ideal places to house homeless people because they can be converted easily and provide secure accommodation near to places of work.

With three million people moving to cities every week, the growth of the urban population is one of the biggest challenges facing society today. This rapid expansion is putting ever more strain on urban infrastructure and services. Many city dwellers live in slums or poor-quality housing; many put up with poor air quality and inadequate transport links.

The Cities for our Future competition run by RICS in partnership with the United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO and the Association of Commonwealth Universities called upon young people to come up with new ideas to help tackle the most pressing problems affecting cities in the UK and around the world. The competition received more than 1,200 entries globally. The overall winner of the competition will receive a prize of £50,000.

Amanda Clack, head judge of the regional judging panel for the UK and head of strategic consulting at CBRE Ltd, said: “The UK’s cities face a host of major challenges that affect their future sustainability – from air pollution and housing shortages, to how to best use modern technology to improve our lives. The five shortlisted entrants for the UK all came up with concepts that were both inventive and practical and any one of them could go on to win the competition. These ideas truly have the potential to improve cities in the UK and around the world.”

An overall winner from the UK will be announced in July and will go on to the global shortlist with the chance to win £50,000. All entries on the global shortlist will get the chance to work with an expert mentor provided by RICS, who will help develop the idea in the run up to the final judging in November.

Sean Tompkins, RICS Global CEO, said: “Our aim with the Cities for our Future Competition was to harness the ideas of our diverse and talented young people to help solve the challenges of the cities they care about and make them better for generations to come. We hope that the leaders of the world’s cities are listening and will work with us and all of our shortlisted entries to make these ideas a reality and help tackle some of the most pressing issues facing their cities.”