also a century characterised by an unprecedented urbanisation that has affected both urban form and urban life, and a century where the role of Urban Design has never been so intensified - and so urgent. It is our endeavour with this book to explore emergent theories and practices relating to urban design in order to better understand current processes of urbanisation and to intervene in our built environments with a focus on the quality of life in them.Through a series of articles and projects, Musings – an urban design anthology brings together researchers, practitioners and students from the Urban Design Programme at the Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University with the aim of providing a multilayered and nuanced perspective on the discipline of urban design – one that explores a number of optics through which urban design can be reflected upon, and ways in which the contemporary built environment can be intervened with.