HOK has joined a delegation of other pioneering green technology firms traveling to Shanghai, China, to commemorate “San Francisco Week” at World Expo 2010 Shanghai. The June 17-25 event recognizes the historic sister city relationship established in 1980. San Francisco is the only U.S. city exhibiting at the World Expo, and HOK is the sole architectural practice joining the city’s delegation.

As part of the firm’s participation in the event, HOK Global Director of Climate Action Stan Wrzeski will facilitate a June 21 symposium – “Global Voices, Local Choices: Creating Low-Carbon Communities” – co-sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Located in the Urban Best Practices Area, this collaborative discussion will compare and contrast how local decisions are made by public and private enterprises to reduce carbon emissions in China and the United States.

Wrzeski will share the process by which top universities have developed climate action plans to pursue carbon neutrality, drawing on his extensive work with the charter signatories to the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). Following his presentation, HOK and NRDC will moderate a panel of U.S. and Chinese experts to compare and contrast the political, economic and cultural factors that drive carbon choices within the two countries. The discussion will be framed to highlight both the role of individuals and collective action in reducing carbon emissions.

Invited panelists include Steve Kline, Vice President of Corporate Environmental and Federal Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer, PG&E Corporation; Hongbo Chen, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Urban and Environmental Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Weizhen Chen, Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shanghai Tongji University; and Ruidong Jin, Director of China Green Building Project, NRDC.