Mapping the creative industries: case studies from Scotland and Wales

This paper examines mappings of the UK’s creative industries to assess economic impact, workforce size, and geographic distribution. Case studies from the Creative Cluster Programme (2018–2024) are analysed. Evidence is drawn from the case studies of Scotland and Wales. It presents results from the mapping processes undertaken in Scotland by Creative Informatics (https://creativeinformatics.org/), and South of Scotland Enterprise, as well as those from Clwstwr and Media Cymru in Wales, including the Creative Economy Atlas Cymru (https://creativeatlas.cymru/), the first Welsh interactive platform for visualising creative industries data, geographic spread, and sector breakdowns. These mappings reveal challenges around data sources, data privacy and open data. Introducing the concept of “data circularity”, the paper explores power dynamics in mapping: who controls the data, what is collected and what is missing, and what the mappings reveal.