Dr Krzysztof Nawratek
PhD, FHEA
School of Architecture and Landscape
Senior Lecturer in Humanities and Architecture
Full contact details
School of Architecture and Landscape
Arts Tower
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
- Profile
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My research, which is uniquely positioned at the confluence of architecture, urbanism, and religious studies, is characterised by an interdisciplinary approach. With a disciplinary background in architecture, urban design, and urban planning, I investigate diverse modes of knowledge production, sense-making practices, and worldviews in shaping urban spaces. My focus is on religious spatial practices and ideologically motivated behaviours underpinned by the principles of radical inclusivity and radical contextualisation.
I have authored or co-authored seven books, including Epistemic Ambivalence: Candomblé and Pentecostalism in a Brazilian City (2024). This exemplifies my commitment to fostering new interdisciplinary dialogues that are set to transform the future of cities. I aim to push the boundaries of urbanism, combining insights from architecture, political theory, and religious studies to explore the future of cities.
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 a central role in my career. 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. In this role, I initiated key reforms to support interdisciplinary projects and encouraged research groups to align closer with diverse intellectual traditions across the humanities, social sciences, and architectural science. One of the achievements I am particularly proud of is my time as an M.Arch (RIBA Part 2) leader at the University of Plymouth (2011 - 2015). This work, deeply influenced by ‘live project’ approach, was instrumental in developing two published books: Radical Inclusivity. Architecture and Urbanism (2015) and Urban Re-Industrialisation (2017).
I continue to collaborate internationally, particularly through my role as a visiting professor at Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais in Brazil.
My teaching, which spans undergraduate and postgraduate levels, is closely linked to my research, fostering a supportive, inclusive environment where students can engage critically with contemporary challenges in urbanism and architecture.
- Qualifications
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PhD in Architecture and Urban Planning
- Research interests
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My research sits at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and religious studies, deeply engaging with how different epistemes and belief systems shape space. Central to my work is the concept of radical contextualisation, which helps to explore how religious, ideological, and political worldviews actualised in various spatial practices continuously shape space. This approach allows me to investigate how sense-making and knowledge production processes become spatialised, particularly in non-Western contexts.
A key aspect of my work is radical inclusivity, a concept influenced by Origen’s notion of apokatastasis. This inclusivity guides my efforts to engage with different intellectual and methodological traditions, pushing beyond the boundaries of conventional urban and architectural theory.
In practice, I study how religious practices actively shape urban environments. My empirical work is always contextualised within a broader theoretical framework aimed at decolonising Western (post)Christian urban and architectural discourses. I aim to expand the epistemological boundaries of how we think about cities and the spaces that define them.
- Publications
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Books
- Epistemic Ambivalence Pentecostalism and Candomblé in a Brazilian City. Taylor & Francis.
- Kuala Lumpur: Community, Infrastructure and Urban Inclusivity. Abindgon: Routledge. View this article in WRRO
- Total Urban Mobilisation. Ernst Jünger and the Post-Capitalist City. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Holes in the Whole Introduction to the Urban Revolutions. Washington: Zero Books. View this article in WRRO
- City as a Political Idea. Citizenship, Sovereignty and Politics. University of Plymouth Press.
- Ideologie W Przestrzeni. Próby Demistyfikacji. Krakow: Universitas.
Edited books
- Radical Inclusivity. Architecture and Urbanism. Barcelona: dpr-Barcelona. View this article in WRRO
Journal articles
- Spatial reflections on Muslimsʼ segregation in Britain. Religions, 14(3).
- The production of knowledge through religious and social media infrastructure : world making practices among Brazilian Pentecostals. Popular Communication. View this article in WRRO
- Beyond community: inclusivity through spatial interventions. Writingplace, 6, 136-147. View this article in WRRO
- Rudolf Otto’s ‘The Absolute Other’ and a radical postsecular urban contextualization. Planning Theory, 20(1), 28-43. View this article in WRRO
- De-colonizing public spaces in Malaysia: dating in Kuala Lumpur. Cultural Geographies, 27(4), 615-629. View this article in WRRO
- Performative interventions to re-claim, re-define and produce public space in different cultural and political contexts. Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, 13(3), 718-735. View this article in WRRO
- How brave can we be? The city as a political experiment. Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 38(1), 1-2.
- An urban partisan: Carl Schmitt's and Jacob Taubes’ guide for urban revolution. Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 38(1), 3-10. View this article in WRRO
- New progressive architecture: Designing for cities in end times. Journal of European Popular Culture, 3(1), 77-88.
- Urban Landscape and the Postsocialist City. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 14(3). View this article in WRRO
- The internet: a potential factor in socio-spatial disintegration of Riga?. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Urban Design and Planning, 164(4), 233-239.
Chapters
- Flattening power structure (we have been being preached to), Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 15-24). Routledge
- Profane space does not exist, Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 38-49). Routledge
- Religious infrastructure, Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 50-67). Routledge
- Beyond space (lessons from the pandemic), Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 88-97). Routledge
- Conclusions, Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 98-104). Routledge
- Temple, street, home, and nature, Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 68-79). Routledge
- Interlude, Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 80-87). Routledge
- Conquer or hide, Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 25-37). Routledge
- Introduction, Epistemic Ambivalence (pp. 1-14). Routledge
- Urban and social infrastructure, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 81-107).
- Towards radical inclusivity - community, Ummah and beyond, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 1-17).
- The spatial dynamics of Kuala Lumpur, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 53-80).
- Spatial practices - dividing and connecting, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 108-116).
- National unity and urban segregation, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 32-52).
- Kuala Lumpur Community, Infrastructure and Urban Inclusivity Preface, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. VIII-XIII).
- Kuala Lumpur Community, Infrastructure and Urban Inclusivity Concluding notes, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 117-119).
- From strategy to tactic, KUALA LUMPUR: COMMUNITY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBAN INCLUSIVITY (pp. 18-31).
- Architecture of radicalized postsecularism In Beaumont J (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity (pp. 315-324). Routledge
- ‘Der Arbeiter’: (Re) Industrialisation as Universalism? In Nawratek KJ (Ed.), Urban Re-industrialization Punctum Books View this article in WRRO
- University as a Terminal: Socio-Material Infrastructure for Post-Neoliberal Society, The Future of University Education (pp. 145-156). Springer International Publishing View this article in WRRO
- On the Frustrating Impossibility of Inclusive Architecture In Nawratek KJ (Ed.), Radical Inclusivity. Architecture and Urbanism (pp. 12-23). Barcelona: DPR-Barcelona. View this article in WRRO
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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 papers
- Mode 2 science: Exploring a common ground of knowledge production in the fields of housing and sustainability. RE-DWELL Conference “Housing co-creation for tomorrow’s cities”, Vol. 1(1) (pp 9-14). France, 8 December 2022 - 9 December 2022.
- Epistemic Ambivalence Pentecostalism and Candomblé in a Brazilian City. Taylor & Francis.
- Research group
- Grants
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Current funded projects:
- Future Faith: Religions, Spaces and Innovations (Sir Halley Stewart Trust, UK)
- Worldviews, Water and Urban Practices (UKRI/UoS, UK)
- Urban Futures, Industrial Remnants and Production of Urban Epistemes (CAPES, Brazil)
Finished funded projects:
- MSCA-ITN Re-Dwell: Delivering Affordable and Sustainable Housing in Europe (2020 - 24).
- Teaching interests
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My teaching is deeply intertwined with my research as I strive to create an inclusive, interdisciplinary learning environment that encourages students to engage with complex urban and architectural challenges critically. I am particularly interested in fostering a dialogue between theory and practice, helping students understand how different belief systems, worldviews, and epistemologies shape the spaces we inhabit. I emphasise radical inclusivity in my teaching, challenging students to think beyond conventional frameworks and engage with diverse intellectual traditions. By cultivating a supportive and open environment, I encourage learners to take intellectual risks and explore the intersections between architecture, urbanism, and the broader social, political, and religious forces that shape our world.
- Teaching activities
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- Power, Space, Society: ARC6742
- Special Studies: ARC322
- PhD supervisions
- Professional activities and memberships
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I am Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA) and member of The British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR).