From Torhout to Peer, from West Flanders to Limburg. Besides the familiar Government and City Architects and the building aesthetics committees, more and more so-called Quality Chambers (i.e. design review boards or panels) have emerged in recent years. These committees are meant to support cities and municipalities in assessing new building projects. However, the composition, role and functioning of these Quality Chambers still vary widely.

In October 2021 the Festival of Architecture came to Ostend. The local Quality Chamber (StadsAtelier) and the Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi) joined forces to organize a conference on the functioning of Quality Chambers in Flanders and Brussels. In 2019 the VAi had already organized a first ‘States General’ on this topic with the Ghent City Architect. The session in Ostend took the form of a workshop, in which some thirty members of Quality Chambers exchanged their experiences and knowledge, under the moderation of Lisa De Visscher (A+) and the members of the Stadsatelier. The discussions were organized around five thematic tables on the issues of composition, input, conversation, positioning and output. Students from the University of Antwerp master’s programme in Urban and Spatial Planning drew up reports on these conversations. These reports served as the basis for this article.