Dr Krzysztof Nawratek

PhD, FHEA

School of Architecture and Landscape

Senior Lecturer in Humanities and Architecture

Krzysztof Nawratek
Profile picture of Krzysztof Nawratek
k.nawratek@sheffield.ac.uk
Arts Tower

Full contact details

Dr Krzysztof Nawratek
School of Architecture and Landscape
Arts Tower
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
Profile

I am a Senior Lecturer in Humanities and Architecture at the 爆料TV School of Architecture and Landscape. With a background in architecture and urban planning, I work between architecture, urbanism and religious studies.

My work is rooted in the notion of radical inclusivity. I understand this term both as an ethical commitment and as a method, applying a non-dialectical mode of thinking. Referring to Nelson Goodman鈥檚 work, I often summarise my research as follows: I study how multiple world-versions exist, touch and change each other without ever becoming One.

I approach the humanities from an infrastructural, almost engineering point of view - I treat theories and concepts as tools and conduits that can be moved across world-versions. By creatively repurposing ideas, I seek to reveal aspects of urban and religious life that remain hidden when concepts stay within their 鈥減roper鈥 context. This creative misappropriation is always framed by the ethic of radical inclusivity: the aim is to open world-versions to one another without erasing their differences.

In addition to my academic research, I bring over a decade of experience in architectural and urban planning/design practices across Poland, Latvia, and Ireland. This professional background informs my teaching and research, helping me integrate theoretical insights with practical, real-world challenges.

Leadership has also played an important role in my career. I was M.Arch (RIBA PArt 2) Leader at the University of Plymouth; In Sheffield I led the Year 1 of the UG program, I was the MA in Architecture Design program leader; I also worked as PGT Director in the School of Architecture. From 2022 to 2024, I served as the Departmental Director of Research and Innovation at the School of Architecture. 

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Qualifications

MSc in Architecture and Urban Planning, PhD in Architecture and Urban Planning, PgCert in HE

Research interests

My current research is organised around two book projects that approach religious formations often associated with conservative politics to ask, maybe counterintuitively, what resources they might hold for thinking about inclusive space and collective life.

The first, under contract with , examines Pentecostal spaces in Brazil as at the same time spaces of exclusion and inclusion. The question driving the work is whether the same structures that enable exclusionary politics might also contain other possibilities.

The second project extends my ongoing collaboration with the Sheffield Diocese of the Church of England. Here I'm interested in how the parish system, a territorial, hierarchical structure inherited from the medieval period, functions as civic infrastructure capable of sustaining radical openness. The Church's very rootedness in place and tradition, I argue, enables forms of inclusion that more mobile or ideologically "progressive" institutions struggle to achieve.

Both projects continue work begun in my book Total Urban Mobilisation. Ernst J眉nger and the Post-Capitalist City (2019), and are shaped by a theoretical commitment I think of as conserving possibility: an orientation that resists foreclosing futures, whether through revolutionary rupture or reactionary enclosure. Drawing on Origen's apokatastasis and non-dialectical modes of thinking, I'm interested in how keeping structures (infrastructural, institutional, social, religious) alive and open, rather than dismantling or rejecting them, might help to protect the possibility of everything and make the world welcoming to everybody.

Publications

Books

  • Freitas DMD, Lima CMS, Nawratek K & Pataro BM (2023) . Taylor & Francis.
  • Kozlowski M, Mehan A & Nawratek K (2020) Kuala Lumpur : community, infrastructure and urban inclusivity. Routledge.
  • Nawratek K (2012) Holes in the Whole Introduction to the Urban Revolutions. Washington: Zero Books.
  • Nawratek K (2011) City as a Political Idea. Citizenship, Sovereignty and Politics. University of Plymouth Press.
  • Nawratek K (2005) Ideologie W Przestrzeni. Pr贸by Demistyfikacji. Krakow: Universitas.

Edited books

  • Nawratek K (Ed.) (2017) . punctum books.
  • Nawratek KJ (Ed.) (2015) Radical inclusivity. Architecture and urbanism. Barcelona: dpr-Barcelona.

Journal articles

  • Nawratek K, Medeiros de Freitas D, Soares Lima CM & Pataro BM (2025) . Implicit Religion: Journal for the Critical Study of Religion.
  • Song S, Nawratek K & Guo F (2025) . Journal of Urban Management.
  • Tahar F, Mehan A & Nawratek K (2023) . Religions, 14(3).
  • Cavalcanti de Arruda GAA, de Freitas DM, Soares Lima CM, Nawratek K & Miranda Pataro B (2022) . Popular Communication, 20(3), 208-221.
  • Nawratek K, Mehan A & Tahar F (2022) . Writingplace, 6, 136-147.
  • Nawratek K (2021) . Planning Theory, 20(1), 28-43.
  • Nawratek K & Mehan A (2020) . cultural geographies, 27(4), 615-629.
  • Yaghi A, Petrescu D & Nawratek K (2019) . Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, 31(3), 718-735.
  • Nawratek K (2014) . Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 38(1), 1-2.
  • Nawratek KJ (2014) . Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 38(1), 3-10.
  • Nawratek K (2012) . Journal of European Popular Culture, 3(1), 77-88.
  • Nawratek K (2012) . CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 14(3).
  • Nawratek K (2011) . Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Urban Design and Planning, 164(4), 233-239.
  • Nawratek K () . G贸rno艣l膮skie Studia Socjologiczne. Seria Nowa, 7, 201-210.

Book chapters

  • Nawratek K, Freitas D & Bernal C (2026) Diversidade epist锚mica na gest茫o dos rios urbanos: notas a partir de Barranquilla e Belo Horizonte In Bragan莽a L, Arag茫o N, Ayastuy M & de Souza L (Ed.), Novas Perspectivas para Rios Urbanos: Al茅m da Rede RUN
  • Mehan A, Nawratek K & Hakiminejad A (2025) , City, Public Space, and Body (pp. 11-23). Routledge
  • Medeiros de Freitas D, Maria Soares Lima C, Nawratek K & Pataro BM (2023) , Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 68-79). Routledge
  • Medeiros de Freitas D, Maria Soares Lima C, Nawratek K & Pataro BM (2023) , Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 80-87). Routledge
  • Medeiros de Freitas D, Maria Soares Lima C, Nawratek K & Pataro BM (2023) , Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 25-37). Routledge
  • Medeiros de Freitas D, Maria Soares Lima C, Nawratek K & Pataro BM (2023) , Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 1-14). Routledge
  • Medeiros de Freitas D, Maria Soares Lima C, Nawratek K & Pataro BM (2023) , Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 98-104). Routledge
  • Medeiros de Freitas D, Maria Soares Lima C, Nawratek K & Pataro BM (2023) , Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 50-67). Routledge
  • Medeiros de Freitas D, Maria Soares Lima C, Nawratek K & Pataro BM (2023) , Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 38-49). Routledge
  • Medeiros de Freitas D, Maria Soares Lima C, Nawratek K & Pataro BM (2023) , Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 88-97). Routledge
  • Medeiros de Freitas D, Maria Soares Lima C, Nawratek K & Pataro BM (2023) , Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 15-24). Routledge
  • Kozlowski M, Mehan A & Nawratek K (2020) Kuala Lumpur Community, Infrastructure and Urban Inclusivity Preface, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. VIII-XIII).
  • Kozlowski M, Mehan A & Nawratek K (2020) Kuala Lumpur Community, Infrastructure and Urban Inclusivity Concluding notes, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 117-119).
  • Kozlowski M, Mehan A & Nawratek K (2020) Towards radical inclusivity - community, Ummah and beyond, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 1-17).
  • Kozlowski M, Mehan A & Nawratek K (2020) From strategy to tactic, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 18-31).
  • Kozlowski M, Mehan A & Nawratek K (2020) Spatial practices - dividing and connecting, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 108-116).
  • Kozlowski M, Mehan A & Nawratek K (2020) The spatial dynamics of Kuala Lumpur, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 53-80).
  • Kozlowski M, Mehan A & Nawratek K (2020) National unity and urban segregation, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 32-52).
  • Kozlowski M, Mehan A & Nawratek K (2020) Urban and social infrastructure, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 81-107).
  • Nawratek K (2018) , The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity (pp. 315-324). Routledge
  • Nawratek K (2017) , Urban Re-Industrialization (pp. 15-19). punctum books
  • Nawratek K (2017) , Urban Re-Industrialization (pp. 61-68). punctum books
  • Nawratek KJ (2017) 鈥楧er Arbeiter鈥 (Re-)Industrialization as Universalism? In Nawratek KJ (Ed.), Urban Re-Industrialization (pp. 61-68). Punctum Books
  • Nawratek KJ (2017) In Izak M, Kostera M & Zawadzki M (Ed.), The Future of University Education (pp. 145-156). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Nawratek KJ & Bus-Nawratek KI (2015) 'Radically inclusive architecture and urbanism' and 'On the frustrating impossibility of inclusive architecture' In Nawratek KJ (Ed.), Radical Inclusivity. Architecture and Urbanism (pp. 8-23). DPR-Barcelona
  • Nawratek KJ (2013) Territory, Autonomy and Provisional Revolution: How to Survive in 21st Century In Redbergs O (Ed.), Conditions for Contemporary Culture (pp. 91-95). Riga: Megaphone Publishers.
  • Nawratek KJ (2013) Contemporary Capitalism and a Post-socialist city: the Bankruptcy of Neo-liberal Riga In Redbergs O (Ed.), Conditions for Contemporary Culture (pp. 129-136). Riga: Megaphone Publishers.
  • Nawratek KJ (2012) Producing citizens: from socialist to post-socialist urban opression In Miles M & Savage J (Ed.), Nutopia A Critical View of Future Cities (pp. 36-35). University of Plymouth Press
  • Nawratek KJ (2011) Rejecting the Communicative Paradigm of Public Space In Bader M, Baurhenn O, Szreder K, Voinea R & Koch K (Ed.), The KNOT. An Experiment on Collaborative Art in Public Urban Space (pp. 151-156). Berlin: Jovis.

Conference proceedings

  • de Albernaz MPL, Nawratek K, Alves ML, Noronha Moreira JP & de Oliveira Pinto G (2025) INFRAESTRUTURAS URBANAS E TRANSFORMA脟脮ES SUBURBANAS: DIMENS脮ES POL脥TICAS E SOCIAIS DOS ESPA脟OS P脫S-INDUSTRIAIS E RELIGIOSOS. Article Proceedings of the XXI National Meeting of the National Association of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Urban and Regional Planning
  • Alsaeed M, Hadjri K & Nawratek K (2023) . RE-DWELL Conference 鈥淗ousing co-creation for tomorrow鈥檚 cities鈥, Vol. 1(1) (pp 9-14). France, 8 December 2022 - 9 December 2022.
Research group

Fellow at the

Member of  Research Centre

Associate Fellow at 

Member of the Steering Group of 

Grants

Finished funded projects:

  • : Delivering Affordable and Sustainable Housing in Europe (2020 - 24).
Teaching interests

My teaching grows out of my research. I aim to create a safe space for students to engage critically with the questions I find most pressing: how can people live together while they do not share common values and beliefs? What does it mean to design inclusively without flattening differences? I help students think across disciplines and traditions, to use ideas, theories and concepts as tools to engage with concrete problems.

Teaching activities
  • Power, Space, Society:  ARC6742
  • Special Studies: ARC322
  • PhD supervisions
Professional activities and memberships

I am Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA) and member of The British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR).

Links

Research groups