Since the outset of industrialization and urbanization,humans have increasingly consumed natural resources,and thus also soil,in an unsustainable manner.Since that same time,the landscape has been scrutinized for its economic,aesthetic and cultural value,whereby its fundamental function for man is oft ignored.The development of cultural values for the landscape has been,for example,historically documented in landscapepainting and more recently in the LandArt movement.Cultural values for soil,on the other hand,are at first not apparent,overshadowed by agricultural and structural necessity.What makes soil interesting today-also for art-and how can aesthetics play a role in the greater understanding of soil and its ecological functions? New research looks at how art and soil may be combined in the context of urban ecology,acknowledging soil as a precarious commodity in city settings.While the field of soil protection has traditionally focused on optimising soil as a resource for producing food and fuel,city soils have historically been evaluated on different terms-that is,the underground medium for high-rise buildings and complex infrastructures.A rise in urban ecological research and a new sense of wild nature growing within the cracks of our "concrete jungles" may lead to a new recognition and protection of urban soils.In addition,urban soils offer a unique perspective into a citys natural and cultural history.An archive of shrinkage and boom is preserved within the horizons and layers of the very dirt in our backyards.The diversity,dynamics and vulnerability of urban soils provide creative stimulus for artistic involvement,provoking a need for awareness and acceptance.In our contribution several examples are given how ecological functions of urban soils,art and aesthetics can be combined:The development of an interactive "soil park".SoilArt Interventions in public open spaces (An oversized "ecological footprint" showing humification and mineralization process… a "soil cake," demonstrating remediation of a former waste water disposal field) Aesthetic Field Experiments (painting with soils,sketching the landscape,experimenting with texture,colour and form of different urban sites) Accordingly,many approaches are possible.The Department of Soil Protection at the TU-Berlin has been investigating several approaches to art-pedology in recent years,some examples of which shall be presented at the SUITMA Conference in China.Parallel to diverse scientific goals,a public relations and environmental education based approach is necessary in reaching a wider public:while more people and social groups are actively interested in the arts than have access to the relatively complicated realm of soil science (as well as ecology,climatology,etc.),the synthesis of soil science,aesthetics,art,and new media offers soil protection a new,more "up-to-date" image in addition to its undisputed ecological significance.