If those things are needed for the population to grow when the game claims you have a positive population change, then information isn't being conveyed to the player well enough. When I see my population should increase by 12 per turn, and it doesn't increase by 12 next turn (assuming zero death rate), then I'm naturally going to think something is wrong. I think there is already a mantis ticket about this.
I haven't gotten Embassies to work, either. I'm not sure if it's on mantis or not.
I don't think you can build cities at this point. The City Center is for that, but I think it's bugged at the moment. There is a mantis ticket on this.