The International Seminar for Urban Development Archives (UDA)

The International Seminar for Urban Development Archives (UDA) was held in Hang Zhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province of China, from April 16 to 18, 2004. The topic of the seminar was“Evidence, Information and Memory: Research in Integrated Management and Services of Urban Development Records and Archives”. It was organized by the Project Team of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project number: 70273055), SIRM, the Professional Committee of Urban Development Archives and Information of the Chinese Society for Urban Studies, the Research Institute for Information Resource Management of Zhejiang University, and the Hang Zhou Urban Development Archives, and was supported by the National Science Foundation of China for International Exchange and Cooperation Projects.

Around 80 people attended the seminar, of whom 8 where from the UK,USA, Spain, New Zealand, and Switzerland; others came from urban development archives(UDA) repositories and administrations of 20 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government; from the Research Institute of the State Archives Administration, Renmin University, Zhejiang University, Tongji University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Branch School of Nanjing Political University, and Heibei University.

The seminar played an important role in evaluating the research progress of the“Research in Integrated Management and Integrated Services of Urban Development Records, Archives and Information”international research project. It promoted the wide application of international best practice and standards to China and at the same time ensure the contributions of the research are not just limited in China. The discussion brought ideas and experiences of different cultures, different disciplines and different sectors together to learn from each other. It provided an opportunity for Chinese archivists to learn more about the world and for foreign archivists to learn more about China. As Pierre Frey, the Chairman of the Architectural Records Section of the International Council on Archives (ICA/SAR) mentioned in the closing ceremony, the international seminar was a success, it had made great contributions to the field of architectural archives and urban development archives in the world.