We often hear that developers are only interested in money and that quality – whatever that word means – is merely incidental. Indeed, they have to be careful with their investments, given that they sometimes take enormous risks and that lenders – usually banks – only take the bait when a (very) high ‘return on investment’ is guaranteed. That is why developers swear by the adage that three things matter: location, location and location. In fact, when a neighbourhood is attractive, prices rise, and vice versa. It is precisely on this point that their interests coincide with those of cities that have a strong vision of urban development, which often leads to sites that no one would have bet on becoming sought-after (and therefore profitable) locations. But everything has a price: cities can impose high standards of quality or affordability on building permits in exchange for their preparatory work and investments. This can be seen in the Oude Dokken project in Ghent and the Ville basse project in Charleroi. However, it can take a long time before this becomes apparent.

Let’s take an urban stroll with two bouwmeesters.