Cork City Council has launched a new and innovative digital tool aimed at neighbourhoods, communities, planners, consultants and developers. The Neighbourhood Profiles Digital Hub is an interactive version of the 2025 Neighbourhood Profile Report, based on 2022 census data, to analyse social-demographics, employment, housing and commuting patterns at a neighbourhood level.

The insight available through the ‘Digital Hub’ will enable citywide communities to have greater involvement in the strategic development of their neighbourhoods. At a launch event in City Hall hosted by the Lord Mayor, Cllr Fergal Dennehy, community groups, planners, residents’ associations and City Council staff were given an overview of the report and a demonstration of the accompanying Digital Hub which is now live and available online.

The significance of the neighbourhoods for strategic planning was highlighted by the presentation from the Cork City Council Strategic Planning & Heritage team, who worked in tandem with the City Council Community team to create this report and deliver the digital tool. The researchers from AIRO, the All-Island Research Observatory at Maynooth University gave a demonstration of the digital dashboards that they developed.

The 2025 Cork City Neighbourhood Profiles Report builds on the first, launched in 2021, providing up-to date profile of 44 city-wide neighbourhoods. The report and tool interpret the available data, recognising patterns to allow informed decision making and planning.

The ‘Digital Hub’ has been developed to gather data in a user-friendly and engaging manner, to empower community groups, academics and all Cork residents to access rich data available for their area and to have the tools to engage in neighbourhood planning and community development.

Valerie O’Sullivan, Chief Executive of Cork City Council said, “Putting our communities at the centre of our decision-making is really important for our city. We are proud to be leading in neighbourhood planning and seeing other cities adopting this approach. Cork City has a rich network of neighbourhoods where people can access local services they need within their own area. The strategic planning and community teams have been actively working together on this project and are now bringing the profiles to a more accessible version with this new digital hub.”

Cork City Council is now planning an online tutorial for community groups in the Autumn.

The Neighbourhood Report, based on CSO data, was prepared by All-Island Research Observatory (AIRO) in co-operation with Cork City Council’s Strategic Planning & Heritage and Community Teams, to compile census data on socio-demographics, employment, housing and commuting patterns.

Explore the Digital Hub for Neighbourhood Planning here