Joachim Declerck (1979, Kortrijk) graduated from Ghent University as an engineer-architect. He later followed the international postgraduate course at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. He stayed at this institute from 2005 to 2010, where he led the professional research and development programme from 2008 onwards. On behalf of the Berlage Institute, he was co-curator of the 3rd IABR, Power - Producing the Contemporary City (2007) and of the exhibition A Vision for Brussels - Imagining the Capital of Europe (2007).

The thread running through Joachim's work is the use of design and spatial development as levers for the realisation of important social transitions. In 2010, together with Roeland Dudal, he founded the European think-tank Architecture Workroom Brussels (AWB) for innovation in architecture, urban and territorial development. AWB is intended as a platform to create the space and conditions for innovative architecture and research by design. He focused on longer strategic lines of work such as visionary housing, productive landscapes, caring neighbourhoods and the productive city.

Joachim was curator of the exhibition Building for Brussels - Architecture and Urban Transformation in Europe (2010). He was a member of the curatorial team of the 5th IABR, Making City (2012), of the Belgian pavilion at the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale entitled The Ambition of the Territory (2012), of the double IABR-2018+2020 The Missing Link / You Are Here (2018) and of the Brussels Urban Landscape Biennale: Rising Waters (2018). As atelier master he has beeninvolved in various IABR ateliers: Atelier Brabantstad (2012), Atelier Utrecht (2016), Atelier Rotterdam (2017), and Atelier Oost-Vlaams Kerngebied (2017). Joachim took on the role of programmer and moderator, whether or not as part of the curatorship, for example during Atelier Vlaanderen als Ontwerp (2012-2013), the Designing the Future sessions(2016-2017) and the World Transformation sessions (2018). During these sessions he contributed on the basis of research by design and sharing knowledge to the broad social debate, to professional practice and the development of knowledge, and to the renewal of urban development and policy. Through the Open Space Platform and the Open Space Movement, Joachim helped develop the methodology for setting out transformation programmes. The Water+Land+Scapeprogramme (2017) is the first operational example of this, followed by the Proeftuinen Ontharding (De-sealing pilot projects) (2018, 2019) and the Proeftuinen Droogte (Drought pilot projects) (2019).

Joachim has been a guest professor at Ghent University (BE) since 2014.