Academics have expressed concerns that regeneration was becoming "gentrification" – a process they claim leads to more expensive shops, higher rents and property prices.

This process forces poorer people out of the city in favour of the wealthier and academics from both of the city's universities say there are signs this is happening.

The eviction of traders from the Corn Exchange, to make way for a food emporium, and changes planned for Kirkgate Market have added to fears that independent, small traders are losing out to the bigger hitters.

Academics from Leeds University and Leeds Met University are hosting the free event tonight to ask the question "Is Leeds going in the right direction?"

Though Leeds has enjoyed economic success and is the fastest-growing city in England, with booming retail and property sectors, academics claim that poorer residents are losing out to more wealthy ones. A spokesman for the organisers of the debate said: "Leeds is set to have some of the highest residential skyscrapers in the UK but has also a shortage of affordable housing. Organisers of the event think that people across the city should be given a chance to discuss the effects of all these changes."

He added: "The pace and scale of the new developments in the city is clearly something that many people are worried about.

"We want to help to create a culture of genuine consultation and bottom-up influence on the direction of Leeds."

The meeting has been organised following an open letter to Leeds Council from a group of professors at both universities.

Signed by 14 city specialists, it said: "The Kirkgate Market and the Corn Exchange are both icons of the Leeds landscape, truly unique results of the city's history. The plans currently tabled for their regeneration could strip away their character and turn them into yet more corporatised and exclusive shopping centres."

The letter added: "In the obsession to compete with other cities, to go up a league and be the Barcelona of the North, Leeds is in danger of simply becoming a 'clone city', a place like anywhere else."

After the letter was made public, the leader of the council, Coun Andrew Carter, said the academics had got their facts wrong and that the council was seeking to support traders and retain investor confidence.

He added: "Nobody much benefits from unsubstantiated criticisms thrown from the academic sidelines."

Leeds: Are we going in the right direction? is open to anyone who wants to discuss the positive and negative aspects of the new Leeds. It takes place at the Rupert Beckett lecture theatre, Michael Sadler Building, Leeds University, at 6pm tonight. It is being chaired by Andrew Edwards from BBC Radio Leeds.

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