The theme of the three-day conference, "Architecture + Movement," is shorthand for a host of challenges facing the modern architect — sustainability, emerging technologies, the environment, transit, infrastructure and new concepts of community.

Keynote speakers for the event will include William Mitchell, author, MIT professor and director of the MIT Media Lab's Smart Cities research group; Donald MacDonald, noted architect of bridges and historic bridge renovations; Robert Ivy, editor of the award-winning publication Architectural Record, and National President of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Pat Caughey.

This year's symposium is co-sponsored by the UH architecture school and the Tongji University College of Architecture and Urban Planning in Shanghai, China. Some sessions will be web cast with Tongji University — which hosted the last Asia-Pacific architecture symposium in Shanghai in 2005.

Guest speakers, local and global, will offer participants perspectives from diverse places around the world. Architecture students will also be able to present their projects in this international setting. A main theme will be: Cultivating a local identity and maintaining cultural diversity while minimizing negative environmental impacts are reoccurring themes.

UH architecture Dean W.H. Raymond Yeh said this is the second time the school is collaborating with Tongji."Shanghai is where much of the building is taking place today," he said. "I anticipate a lively debate onthe future of Asia-Pacific cities."

The symposium will focus on world, national and local issues. It's an opportunity for Asia-Pacific architects and planners to network and share their ideas.

The UH school offers the only nationally accredited professional doctoral program in architecture in the United States.

Developers, government planners, students and the public are invited to attend. Details and registration information are available at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa School of Architecture Web site,