Artificial soil or engineered soil is an anthropogenic substrate, which in many ways resembles natural soil but is designed to possess certain properties on a controlled basis. Natural soils are physically weathered over time, decomposing organic matter, as well as relating to biotic factors, while artificial soils are needed in areas where natural soil is lacking, poor, or non-existent and are prepared purposefully to fulfil particular applications. Some of the fields that have adopted the use of artificial soils are agriculture, horticulture, civil engineering and even space technology. Despite this, they present a flexible solution to problems such as urbanization of soils, poor productivity, and food shortages. Artificial soil is normally prepared from one or many of these components that will imitate the natural soil in its physical, chemical, and biological aspects. These components can be organic materials, for instance, compost or peat and mineral conditioning materials, for instance, sand, clay, or perlite, and supplementary items, for instance, fertilizer, moisture retention material, and pH adjuster. It is the medium through which various aspects such as support for plants, nutrients and water, and microbial bodies should be provided in a manner that is easier to manage and modify than natural soil. Artificial soil is used frequently in urban environments to improve the quality of the soil or where the soil is not available at all usually in landscape gardening. In urban areas, artificial soil can be applied to green roofs, vertical farming, and other gardening projects to function as a space for known plant growth in areas with limited space present. They mimic natural soil types, with optimum nutrient content, structure, and permeability thus facilitating plant growth in areas where soil can be compacted or heavily polluted by urban development. In agriculture, artificial soil is gradually behaving as a saviour for the issues of soil erosion, desertification, and other forms of land degradation. Thus, artificial soil is the base for food growing in places where the natural soil has deteriorated due to overuse, pollution or climatic changes. Higher control over both the texture and structure of the soil as well as the nutrients it contains means more control over the yields and better utilization of resources such as water and space, which are potential scarcities in many places. Moreover, artificial soils can be designed to suit particular types of crops, and this is a much more effective means of producing crops than traditional soil management. Artificial soils are also extremely important for space missions in the modern world. Subsequent studies have been conducted to create artificial soil that may be used in space habitats, for instance, intended for Mars or the Moon, where the natural ground is not planted or not suitable for that purpose. Artificial soils are used when forming durable environments for life support systems in space. Soil engineers and scientists have strived to produce the appropriate soil type required for plant growth, in addition to recycling nutrients and organic matter. These enhancements in artificial soil may also prove to be significant in future manned space missions to meet the human basic needs of food production and better management of space environments. Some of the other significant arenas of application of artificial soils comprise agriculture other than crop farming space exploration, and environmental management. For instance, they can be applied in soil remediation to determine the efficiency of projects developed to remediate affected ground. Some artificial soils are made to possess some properties that allow them to capture contaminants, immobilize toxins or contain plants that assist in the detox process of the soil. These applications can be of much use during the redevelopment of industrial estates, the redevelopment of brownfield sites, or sites with high levels of heavy metals or hazardous waste. Therefore artificial soil can be described as an adaptable invention that gives numerous approaches in the fields of horticulture and landscaping, agriculture, reclamation of polluted areas and even outer space. As an imitation of natural soil and with its adjustable scale, artificial soil contributes to better land and resource utilization. In the light of emerging global issues like climate change, soil degradation, and food insecurity among others, the enhancement of artificial soil promises an optimistic possibility towards enhancing the stability of ecosystems and supporting life in varying difficult conditions. Bibliography Innocent Ojeba Musa, holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Microbiology, M.Tech in Environmental Microbiology, and a B.Tech in Microbiology all from the Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology and Nigerian Society for Microbiology.  You can join the conversation on Facebook @SkylineUniversityNG and on Twitter @SkylineUNigeria