Cork City Council Unveils Digital Tool to Empower Neighbourhood Planning

Cork communities gain powerful new resource as council launches interactive Neighbourhood Profiles Digital Hub, putting census data and planning insights at residents' fingertips.

Cork City Council has launched an innovative digital platform that transforms how neighbourhoods engage with local planning and development. The Neighbourhood Profiles Digital Hub, unveiled at City Hall on 29 August 2025, provides interactive access to detailed census data for 44 city neighbourhoods, marking a significant step forward in community-driven urban planning.

The new tool, based on 2022 census data, allows residents, community groups, planners and developers to analyse social demographics, employment patterns, housing statistics and commuting trends at neighbourhood level. The platform represents a collaboration between Cork City Council's Strategic Planning & Heritage team, the Community team, and researchers from Maynooth University's All-Island Research Observatory (AIRO).

Lord Mayor Cllr. Fergal Dennehy hosted the launch event, where community groups, residents' associations and council staff received demonstrations of the digital dashboards. The platform builds upon the first Neighbourhood Profiles report released in 2021, expanding its scope and accessibility through user-friendly digital interfaces.

Valerie O'Sullivan, Chief Executive of Cork City Council, stated:

"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 the local services they need within their own area."

The digital hub aligns with the Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028's focus on fostering liveable neighbourhoods. The plan defines neighbourhoods based on 10-minute walking areas (approximately 800 metres), ensuring residents can access essential services, transport, healthcare, education and community infrastructure within a short walk.

Niall Ó Donnabháin, Director Planning and Integrated Development at Cork City Council, emphasised the tool's strategic importance:

"Neighbourhoods are the building blocks of our city, continuously changing and influencing how our city looks, feels and works. We have been growing our team and our ambition around data-driven strategic planning. This new iteration of the Cork City Neighbourhood Profiles was a great opportunity to create a digital hub that highlights the digital and analytical tools that are used for decision-making and make them available to all decision-makers in and outside the City Council, in health, education, transport. It is a public tool that everyone can use."

Community organisations have already recognised the platform's potential for securing funding and developing targeted programmes. The tool provides comparative data across neighbourhoods, enabling more effective grant applications for Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme funding, climate action initiatives and Local Enhancement Programmes.

Roy Watson, General Manager of The Glen Resource Centre, welcomed the development:

"The new digital hub will be a great tool to have a level of comparative data for neighbourhoods. In the past, we have used Pobal & CSO data, but the updated profiles provided a multi layered data at a local level. So, it will be very beneficial to add this data to grant applications for Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme grants and programmes, Climate action grants and Local Enhancement Programmes going forward."

The platform draws data from multiple sources, including the 2022 Census, POWSCAR results, comparative 2016 Census figures, and the Pobal HP Deprivation Index. This comprehensive dataset provides insights that enable informed decision-making for both community groups and planning professionals.

Cork City Council plans to support community adoption of the tool with online tutorials scheduled for autumn 2025. The initiative positions Cork as a leader in neighbourhood planning, with other cities now following its community-centred approach to urban development.

The Neighbourhood Profiles Digital Hub is now live and accessible online, offering Cork residents unprecedented access to local data that can shape their neighbourhoods' futures. Whether planning community projects on Leeside or seeking funding for local initiatives, groups now have the analytical tools previously reserved for professional planners.

The digital hub can be accessed at experience.arcgis.com, whilst the full 2025 Neighbourhood Profiles report is available through Cork City Council's publications portal. For queries about the platform, residents can contact planningpolicy@corkcity.ie.