The Cultural Infrastructure Map, submitted by the West Midlands Combined Authority is the foundational phase of a project to map the cultural assets across the whole of the Midlands of England, beyond the Combined Authority. This phase has plotted assets such as heritage, entertainment, maker-spaces, transport links and cultural engagement, and is designed to help identify areas for future investment. Future plans for the map include the addition of parks, gardens, leisure facilities, footpaths and open-access countryside to show how culture and nature are connected.

Our judges recognised the “huge amount of data” in this project which “provides so many opportunities for understanding locational culture and resources”. The judges wanted to encourage its makers and users to “develop its spatial significance”, praising it for being a valuable “starting point for discussion”.