Michael Woo, Los Angels City Planning Commissioner

Michael Woo is an U.S.-born and –trained urban planner and local government official whose focus on sustainable urban development and transportation

Woo was the first trained urban planner and the first Asian American elected to serve as a Member of the Los Angeles City Council, the 15-member governing body which sets policy for the City of Los Angeles. For eight years, Woo oversaw land use, transportation, and basic municipal services in central Hollywood and surrounding neighborhoods comprising a highly ethnically diverse district of 235,000 constituents. Woo initiated the Hollywood Redevelopment Plan, the 30-year-plan which laid the legal, financial, and planning framework for the current revitalization of the historic Hollywood area. He played a pivotal role in planning the route and station locations of the Metro Red Line subway. Woo chaired the City Council's Transportation and Traffic Committee.

Woo gave up his City Council seat in 1993 to run for Mayor of Los Angeles. Out of an initial field of 24 candidates, Woo ultimately was the second-place candidate, receiving 46 percent of the citywide vote in the June 1993 municipal run-off election. In a highly contentious and nationally-observed campaign, Woo was endorsed by President Clinton, The Los Angeles Times, and the Los Angeles County Labor Federation (AFL-CIO), and raised $3.5 million in donations for one of the most high-profile campaigns ever run by an American of Asian descent in the U.S.

Woo continues to be a leader in urban planning activities. Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa appointed Woo to the Los Angeles City Planning Commission, a key municipal decision-making body whose members cast votes on proposed development projects which may have citywide impact. On the national level, Woo is chairman of the Board of Directors of Smart Growth America, the national advocacy organization promoting smart growth and sustainable development policies.

For the last three years, Woo's research interests have extended to Chinese cities. He has been an outspoken voice calling for more sustainable approaches to urban growth in China. In 2005, Woo was invited by USC's School of Policy, Planning, and Development to be co-instructor of the school's Beijing Lab, bringing 31 graduate students to Beijing for two weeks of collaboration with Peking University students examining an urban planning challenge in the Xidan Beidajie area of Beijing. He was invited to submit a paper for a conference sponsored by the Center for Sustainable Transportation in the China Ministry of Communication, and he has given talks on sustainable urban development and transportation at Peking University, Nanjing University, the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, and the Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design. The Los Angeles Times published his article “L.A. All Over Again” on the implications of China 's growing demand for oil. Woo has been invited to give a luncheon keynote speech at the upcoming 20 th anniversary conference of the International Chinese Transportation Professionals Association (ICTPA) on May 27, 2007. For the last two years, Woo has taught a combined graduate and undergraduate seminar in the UCLA Urban Planning Department on “China's Urban Sustainability Challenges.” He also is an adjunct instructor at USC.

Woo received a B.A. in Politics and Urban Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and earned a Master of City Planning degree from the University of California, Berkeley. At Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, he was a Fellow of the Institute of Politics.

胡绍基是在美国出生、接受教育并担任政府官员的城市规划专家。他的研究方向是可持续城市发展和交通发展。

胡先生是有史以来第一个获准进入洛杉矶市议会的规划专家和亚裔美国人，该议会的15位成员组成负责制定洛杉矶市的各种政策。8年来，胡先生负责总体管理好莱坞核心和周边超过235,000人的各种族混居的土地使用、交通和各类城市基本服务。胡先生是好莱坞地区再发展计划的发起者，这个持续30年的计划为该地区的振兴设定了法律、经济、规划的基本框架。他在Red Line地铁工程的线路设计、站点选址中扮演了核心角色。胡先生曾担任该市议会的运输及交通委员会主席。

胡先生于1993年放弃了在洛杉矶市议会的位置转而竞选该市市长。在1993年6月的最终选举中，他获得了全市46％的选票，在24位候选人中名列第二。在这个全国关注的竞选中，胡先生获得了克林顿总统、洛杉矶时报和洛杉矶劳工联盟（AFL-CIO）的支持，并筹集了350万美元的捐款，这对一个亚裔美国人来说是空前的。

胡先生一直在洛杉矶的城市规划中担任着领导角色。洛杉矶市长Villaraigosa任命他加入洛杉矶城市规划委员会，该委员会是负责对洛杉矶城市建设发展各项提案行使投票表决权的重要决策机构，他们的决策对全市有着重大影响。在国家层面上，胡先生是美国精明增长协会（Smart Growth America）董事会主席，该协会是旨在推动精明增长及可持续发展政策的全国性组织。

在过去的3年时间里，胡先生亦将其研究方向转向中国城市。成为中国城市采取可持续发展政策的海外专家。2005年，胡先生受南加州大学政策、规划与发展学院之邀担任该大学北京实验室合作讲师，带领31名研究生来到北京，联合北京大学，进行为期两周的西单北大街规划项目合作。他受中国交通部可持续交通研究中心之邀为其主办的大会拟写论文。还就可持续城市发展专题为北京大学、南京大学、中国城市规划设计研究院、北京市城市规划与设计研究院做学术演讲。洛杉矶时报登载了他题为：L.A. All Over Again的文章，该文章前瞻了中国发展对原油的需求。胡先生受邀为2007年5月27日举行的ICTPA20届年会做主题演讲。在过去的两年间，胡先生在加州大学洛杉矶分校城市规划系讲授“中国城市可持续发展的挑战”的研究生和本科课程，他同时任南加州大学兼职讲师。