Abroad, Belgium’s public commissioning is viewed with admiration. Institutions such as the Flemish Government Architect, the Brussels Government Architect and the Cellule architecture of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles are internationally praised for their role as quality guardians and process supervisors. Thanks to design competitions, quality chambers and active dialogue with designers and clients, they succeed in placing spatial quality at the heart of public commissioning.

Nevertheless, spatial development in Belgium is largely in the hands of private actors. In no other European country do they have such a major impact on the landscape as here. This influence has grown historically, is deeply rooted and multifaceted. Due to the government’s decades-long reticence in spatial planning and housing policy, property developers and private builders have been given considerable leeway to determine the urban and rural landscape. As a result, private initiatives are not complementary, but often lead the spatial transformation of our country. It is precisely this dominant position that calls for critical reflection, because the quality of private projects varies greatly. Some excel in architectural and urban planning sophistication, while others remain mired in banality or mere profit maximisation.

In this issue of A, we examine how private building culture manifests itself today, the mechanisms that drive it and, above all, how it can contribute to greater spatial quality. Together with guest editor Sofie De Caigny, we examined which instruments, formulas, policy measures, design strategies or forms of collaboration can encourage private clients to realise projects that transcend individual, private demand and, to a certain extent, care for people, the environment and the future.

As the capital, Brussels acts as a magnifying glass on the spatial planning culture in Belgium. Géry Leloutre describes how the city – and more specifically the North District – grew for decades under the influence of private developers, without a strong and systematic coordinating policy. The free play of private actors and individual initiatives resulted in a city shaped more by market logic than by spatial vision. Kristiaan Borret attempted to put a stop to this from the moment he took office as Brussels Chief Architect (BMA) in 2015. Together with his team, he organised advisory services and encouraged design competitions, including for private real estate projects, in which quality was discussed at an early stage and in an ongoing dialogue. In the resulting culture of collaboration, private developers become partners in urban development, contributing to a liveable and high-quality city. Ghent and Charleroi also demonstrate how a city with a strong vision can challenge private developers to deliver quality. Pieter T’Jonck, together with the respective city architects Peter Vanden Abeele and Georgios Maïllis, takes a walk past recent projects that demonstrate how urban development and market logic can reinforce each other – provided that, in addition to sufficient time, there are clear preconditions.

Both in the past and in the present, there are inspiring examples of alternative forms of private commissioning. These are often fuelled by architects. Tom Broes, Michiel Dehaene and Isabel Dedeurwaerdere examine how architects took on hybrid roles during the rapid urbanisation of the Antwerp agglomeration in the interwar period in order to guarantee architectural quality in a building culture driven by private initiatives. Based on a broader social commitment, these architects strove for quality by acquiring different positions for themselves as a professional group. The essay offers tools for reflecting on the role of architects in private commissioning today. Peggy Totté takes a look at cooperative private commissioning as an alternative to the dominant model of individual ownership. Housing cooperatives offer prospects for collective responsibility and spatial cohesion – values that are sorely needed in a fragmented landscape.

Finally, we also give the project developer a chance to speak. In a round-table discussion, they reflect together with designers and policymakers on the conditions for good development opportunities. From their diverse roles, each of them is committed to spatial quality and the ‘public interest’ in private development projects. And each of them agrees wholeheartedly: in order to achieve better architecture and urban development, in addition to stricter policy frameworks and transparent processes, what is needed above all is more cooperation, dialogue and shared ambitions.

Be inspired.

Eline Dehullu
Editor-in-chief

Sofie De Caigny
Chair of the Environmental Quality and Cultural Heritage Committee, Rotterdam
Head of Collection at the Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam