Manuel Heckel

Manuel is a lecturer and researcher at the Chair of International Urbanism at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow (ESRC) at the Department of Geography, Cambridge University, UK. Manuel holds a PhD in Urban Studies and Planning from the University of Sheffield, UK. His doctoral and post-doctoral research in Sheffield and Cambridge looked at the commercialisation of development funding in basic services sectors, focusing on trends in the Kenyan water sector to ‘blend’ public funds with commercial finance and ‘unlock’ capital market investments to mobilise private resources for infrastructure development. In Cambridge, Manuel joined the Cambridge Social Ontology Group to discuss and further work on Social Positioning Theory.

Manuel’s current research interests continue to include private development finance and processes of financialisation, especially of infrastructure and basic services (chiefly water and sanitation) but also housing. More generally, he is interested in social ontology and social normativity, including the nature and role of finance and related norms in urban change processes, and in prefigurative urbanism and social innovation such as co-operative housing provision.

At the Department of International Urbanism, Manuel co-coordinates the EU-funded research project “Delivering sAfe and Sustainable Housing” (DASH). Together with partners from four countries (Denmark, Germany, Protugal, Serbia) and three sectors (academia, local authorities, housing associations), the project looks at strategies to improve the production of social housing in second-tier cities in Europe.

Manuel teaches a range of postgraduate modules at the Department of International Urbanism. He taught both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the Department of Urban Studies at the University of Sheffield, and examined master's theses at the Department of Development Studies at Cambridge University. Manuel is Associate Fellow of AdvanceHE, the UK’s professional recognition scheme for university teachers.

Prior to his doctorate, Manuel worked with GIZ in Bonn, Germany and Chisinau, Moldova, inter alia on municipal finance and improving basic services delivery.

Since Oct 2024
Researcher and lecturer at the Chair of International Urbanism, University of Stuttgart, Germany
Research project: DASH

Oct 2023 - Sep 2024
Postdoctoral fellow (ESRC) at Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK

Summer 2023
Researcher and lecturer at the Chair of International Urbanism, University of Stuttgart, Germany
Research project: DASH

2022
PhD (Urban Studies) from University of Sheffield, UK

Towards a 'Science of the City'. Presented at the DASH conference in Belgrade, Serbia, 28 October 2026

Norm Circles and Critical Realism. Presented with co-author Dave Elder-Vass at the annual conference of the International Association for Critical Realism in Szczecin, Poland, 31 July 2025

Adjusting Valuations: Constructing Regular Private Development Finance Flows in Kenya’s Water Sector. Presented at African Urbanisms conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, 25 Oct 2024

Linkages in Social Position Theory. Presented at the Cambridge Social Ontology Workshop in Cambridge, UK

Proto-positioning: Technical and tactical trials to roll out private development finance in Kenya. Presented at the annual conference of the International Association for Critical Realism in Warwick, UK, 2 August 2024

Beyond Bankability: Water Utility Rejection of Private Development Finance in Kenya. Presented at Making Africa Urban conference in London, UK, 30 July 2024