Global clouds and local storms: the critical governance of Google's data centre infrastructure development
A PhD project by Karinne Madron
funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), part of DIGI-GOV
Supervisory Committee: Constance Carr, Markus Hesse, Andy Karvonen (Lund University)
Download Brochure from University archives: here
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| Google Data Center in Eemshaven (by K. Madron 2022) |
Project Abstract
Google is one of the largest investors in data centre infrastructure worldwide along with Amazon and Microsoft (Synergy Research Group, 2022). As Google expands its data centre footprint, it leverages its symbolic and financial power while engaging with public authorities whose capabilities it often far outweighs. The aim of this project is to understand Google’s mode of operation when it comes to its data centre development and how it challenges pre-existing modes of governance and planning. The project brings together three orbits of literature. The first one is critical data centre studies–a growing literature which critically discusses the environmental, social and political dimensions of data centres (Edwards et al., 2024). Particularly relevant to the project is also a body of works analysing the involvement of large digital corporations in urban governance with a focus on the Sidewalk Labs project in Toronto (Carr and Hesse, 2020; Flynn and Valverde, 2019). The project is also informed by debates within infrastructure studies on how various modes of infrastructural (in)visibility are mobilised to achieve different goals. Qualitative methods are used to examine two cases: the village of Bissen in Luxembourg where a Google data centre project has been under discussion for several years and the Province of Groningen in the Netherlands where Google has built a large data centre and is planning two others. Preliminary observations indicate that Google uses similar agenda-steering and power-brokering tactics to those observed during the unfolding of the Sidewalk Labs project (Carr and Hesse, 2020, 2022). In the case of data centres however, those tactics are underpinned by the controlled visibility of these infrastructures.
Google is one of the largest investors in data centre infrastructure worldwide along with Amazon and Microsoft (Synergy Research Group, 2022). As Google expands its data centre footprint, it leverages its symbolic and financial power while engaging with public authorities whose capabilities it often far outweighs. The aim of this project is to understand Google’s mode of operation when it comes to its data centre development and how it challenges pre-existing modes of governance and planning. The project brings together three orbits of literature. The first one is critical data centre studies–a growing literature which critically discusses the environmental, social and political dimensions of data centres (Edwards et al., 2024). Particularly relevant to the project is also a body of works analysing the involvement of large digital corporations in urban governance with a focus on the Sidewalk Labs project in Toronto (Carr and Hesse, 2020; Flynn and Valverde, 2019). The project is also informed by debates within infrastructure studies on how various modes of infrastructural (in)visibility are mobilised to achieve different goals. Qualitative methods are used to examine two cases: the village of Bissen in Luxembourg where a Google data centre project has been under discussion for several years and the Province of Groningen in the Netherlands where Google has built a large data centre and is planning two others. Preliminary observations indicate that Google uses similar agenda-steering and power-brokering tactics to those observed during the unfolding of the Sidewalk Labs project (Carr and Hesse, 2020, 2022). In the case of data centres however, those tactics are underpinned by the controlled visibility of these infrastructures.
References
Carr C, Hesse M (2020) When Alphabet Inc. plans Toronto’s waterfront: New post-political
modes of urban governance. Urban Planning 5(1): 69–83.
Edwards D, Cooper ZGT, Hogan M (2024) The making of critical data center studies. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.
Epub ahead of print 23 January 2024. DOI: 10.1177/13548565231224157.
modes of urban governance. Urban Planning 5(1): 69–83.
Edwards D, Cooper ZGT, Hogan M (2024) The making of critical data center studies. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.
Epub ahead of print 23 January 2024. DOI: 10.1177/13548565231224157.
Flynn A, Valverde M (2019) Where The Sidewalk Ends: The Governance Of Waterfront Toronto’s Sidewalk Labs Deal. Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 36(2019): 263-283.
Synergy Research Group (2022, March 23). Pipeline of over 300 new hyperscale data centers drives healthy growth forecasts. Synergy Research Group. https://www.srgresearch.com/articles/pipeline-of-over-300-new-hyperscale-data-centrecentres-drives-healthy-growth-forecasts
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