Invited talk at the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy, University of Cambridge

"Bringing sounds of yesterday into my city room," Pink Floyd, Grantchester Meadows
(Photo: Carr 2024)

Last week, I had the great pleasure speaking at the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy, University of Cambridge on issues of democratic participation and the social spatial distribution of data centers in metropolitan regions under growth pressure. A huge thanks to Dr. Julia Rone, Tom Lacey, Christine Adams, and Dr. Ann Kristin Glenster for the wonderful invitation, and for organizing such an engaging event.

Focussing on the Metropolitan Areas of Seattle and Washington, my main contribution was showing some of the spatial logics behind data center expansion and describing some of the sociological problems that result. It was an honour to be the only urban geographer in the room!

The main messages I wanted to deliver were:

• Data centers are urban infrastructures, clustering in or around metropolitan regions where they build upon existing digital infrastructures (cables, pipes, roads), and can make use of local labour, markets and politics.
• The uneven spatial distribution of data centers can invoke inter-jurisdictional competition for tax revenue, (in addition to competition over water, power, and land resources that data centers require).
• Data centers can encroach on communities devaluing properties, and causing the flight of residents with higher incomes
• Protest movements can be mischaracterized by media (as, for example, a white middle class NIMBYist movement)
• The data center industry shops around for different offers in regulation.
• The scale of the problem is unknown because the input needs of many data centers are not publicly available, and pressure is increasing as demand rises

Listening to others throughout the event, several further issues surfaced:

• Awareness campaigns are needed. It is clear that most people who are confronted with data center development in their neighbourhoods are taken rather unawares about what data centers are, what their functions are, what resources they need, how these might need to be maintained over time, the costs that will be incurred, and who is behind them. They are then confronted with a steep learning curve that must then be communicated (which takes time) to the wider public. In this respect, data industry leaders profit from the lack of transparency and missing regulatory frameworks.
• Protest groups that react to data center developments have (until this event) largely operated in isolation. Enhancing networking opportunities and facilitating knowledge exchange would significantly boost awareness and informed decision-making.
• A moratorium? Clearly, data centers fulfil a purpose in helping the emergence of important new technologies. However, a temporary halt on data center development could generate the needed time for communities to make necessary assessments in order to arrive at founded and informed decisions.

 --Constance Carr