Arbeitskreis für historische Kulturlandschaftsforschung in Mitteleuropa e.V.Workgroup on historic cultural landscape research in Central Europe e.V.

Five aspects bundle the common interests of its many members from all countries of Central Europe:

• Genesis and transformation of the cultural landscape – cultural landscape is understood as the whole of man in historical times changed environment including all settlements;
• Historical dimension – this will in deep be the period from prehistory to the Middle Ages and the early modern period to the present day with the goal of space-time comparisons;
• Interdisciplinary cooperation mainly by archaeologists, historians and geographers;
• Intensive examination of methods and concepts of historical cultural landscape research (eg siedlungsarchäologischer studies, interpretation of archival documents and maps, and integration of natural sciences findings)
• Inclusion of application – the “Working Group for Applied Historical Geography” is dedicated to the issues of implementation of basic research in planning processes and environmental education.

The club continues the substantive work of the “Arbeitskreises für genetische Siedlungsforschung in Mitteleuropa” (Working Group for genetic settlement research in Central Europe) (1974-2004).

The aims of Arkum are realized in particular by

• the annual meetings of the Association in September of each year and through events of the “Working Group for Applied Historical Geography”;
• the publication of its own publications and research reports, especially the magazine “Settlement Research, Archaeology – History – Geography.” and publication series on cultural landscape;
• the development and maintenance of a Special Bibliography of historical cultural landscape research;
• cooperation with others in the field of cultural landscape history and cultural landscape stewardship active institutions and initiatives;
• promoting and implementing their own research projects.