The Broken Promise of Architectural Practice in Belgium

This working paper examines the structural, statutory, historical, and psychological
conditions of the Belgian architectural labour market. Drawing on the 2024 Dear
Architects/BAU Loonbarometer, the ACE 2024 Sector Study, the 2018 UGent
professional-satisfaction survey, the 2022 Smart/APMC analysis, reporting by De
Morgen, De Standaard, and BRUZZ, Belgian internship regulations, the 1939 Law
on the protection of the title of architect (as amended in 2006 and 2024), the
historical record of the profession's bifurcated origins, and original analysis from
the SBD Lab alumni meeting of June 2026, this paper argues that traditional
architectural practice in Belgium operates as a structurally fragile ecosystem:
underpaid, over-supplied, ideologically captured, and increasingly exposed to
automation. It further argues that this structural fragility is sustained by a
psychological pattern that this paper terms fausse liberte -- the felt experience of
creative and professional freedom in independent practice, which in practice masks
financial insecurity, subordination to client and market power, and the absence of
real bargaining position. The paper traces this pattern to an initial career choice
that is, for a substantial share of entrants, an emotional rather than a deliberated
decision, and situates it, as an interpretive hypothesis rather than an established
finding, within the psychosocial-moratorium literature on delayed identity
formation. It also examines the role architecture educators play in sustaining an
idealised, aesthetic representation of the profession that leaves this pattern intact
across generations of graduates. Graduates who deploy their engineering
competencies in technical consultancy, BIM management, energy performance
advisory, and public sector roles achieve significantly better financial outcomes.
employment security, and long-term professional resilience. This paper names the
structural and psychological dynamics that sustain the alternative, analyses them,
and proposes a reframing.