There’s no doubt about it; we are #acityrising.

Cork is projected to become the fastest growing city in the country over the next 20 years with the population of the city set to almost treble.

Up to €375 million worth of development is also underway or recently completed, with loads more in the pipeline.

Now hundreds of international delegates interested in the opportunities and challenges facing ‘cities on the rise’ are arriving in Cork to figure out how mid-sized cities can provide a strong economy for growing populations while ensuring a quality of life for residents.

The controversial US ‘godfather of gentrification’, Richard Florida will address the annual congress of the international Academy of Urbanism, which is being held this week in collaboration with Cork City Council.

Florida, who has been derided by some for espousing a development philosophy that forced working classes out of city centres, will join Jeffrey Tumlin, Principal and Director of Strategy with US transportation consultancy Nelson Nygaard, who will speak on autonomous travel or self driving cars and whether they are the answer to city growth.

Susana Ruiz from the City of Bilbao’s Urban Planning office will offer some tips to Cork and Irish cities on how the Spanish city transformed itself by developing its industrial waterfront.

The challenge of providing housing in cities will feature strongly in the programme with Regitze Marianne Hess, Director, International Affairs, International Federation of Housing and Planning Growth, due to speak about how we can create adequate, inclusive and affordable housing for all.

Imandeep Kaur will discuss Impact Hub Birmingham, a network and talent pool of citizens, makers, doers, entrepreneurs, activists and dreamers that she helped co-found ‘to build a better Birmingham and a better world’.

The Congress will use Cork as a ‘place laboratory’ to explore the challenge of how to appeal to a mobile international workforce while retaining an inclusive sense of local identity and how to exploit urban investment to help regenerate smaller towns in the region.