Leading green thinkers, industry experts and manufacturers will speak at the Green Cities 2012 conference in Sydney.

More than 70 green building suppliers and manufacturers will be featured at the 2012 conference, with the Green Building Council of Australia and the Property Council of Australia hosting the event.

Keynote speakers will include architect and biomimicry expert, Mary Ann Lazarus; social innovator, Rachel Botsman; sustainable property academic and advisor, Nils Kok; and Cornell University professor of human ecology, Frank Becker.

Ms Lazarus will talk about how taking cues from nature will transform the future of the built environment; Ms Botsman will speak about how collaborative consumption will reprogram how people ‘create, build and live’.

Mr Kok will highlight how building and investing in sustainable properties pays financial dividends, while Professor Becker’s talk will be on how and why spaces can be enhancers or inhibiters of human performance.

The conference will be free of charge and will be held on the 5th to the 7th of March at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre.