Zusammenfassung
Summary
Land improvement was formerly focused on internal colonisation and deals nowadays with integral development of rural areas. The German Association for Land Improvement (Deutsche Landeskulturgesellschaft, DLKG) as scientific orientated and interdisciplinary organisation offers since more than 40 years a forum for the mutual exchange of science and practice as well as compilation of strategies for sustainable development to satisfy the different requirements of land use and land development. Focal points are the annual meetings organised at different places in Germany. This paper illustrates the key activities of the DLKG for the development of rural areas and highlights the change of research in the area of land improvement on occasion of this anniversary.