In 1713, Hans Carl von Carlowitz published his book “Sylvicultura Oeconomica”, which is presumed to be a “literary catapult” for the development of the sustainability term. Forests in the mountains of Saxony and Lower Saxony became sustainability labs. Obviously, the sustainability principle was not limited to forests, but took effect in the whole landscape, too. This shows the “landscape archive”. This study was developed within the interdisciplinary research project “Nachhaltigkeit als Argument” (“Sustainability as argument”) and funded by the VolkswagenStiftung. The thesis surveyed landscape structures of the northern mountain area of Lower Saxony, which show the change to more sustainable land use. The pursuit of more environmental, economic and social sustainability led to more efficiency, sufficiency and resilience. Creating order and combining the useful with the pleasant were important drivers to realize the sustainability idea in the landscape.