In light of the pervasive digitalization of both work and leisure and the geopolitical race over developing AI large language models, companies such as Microsoft Azure and Meta have doubled their data centre capacity in 2024. This boom in data centre construction has provoked strong local resistance in countries such as The Netherlands, Chile, Ireland, Luxembourg, and most recently Spain.
This research is part of the Co-Creation for Inclusive Knowledges Lab
Local activism against data centres has been driven by concerns about the significant energy and water demands of digital infrastructure (environmental concerns), but also about the complete lack of democratic participation in decision making on the topic (democratic concerns). Such activism against data centres has been incredibly strong when it comes to articulating concerns at the local level but has so far not engaged in detailed elaboration of alternative visions of digital infrastructure beyond the current corporate monopolies. On the other hand, NGOs working on digital rights and public digital infrastructures have strong expertise in legislative consultations and discussions with parliamentarians but less immediate connection with this growing resistance movement from below.
