M 01 - Data Centres and Peripheries

This project examines the growing presence of data centres in peripheral regions which are traditionally defined by their distance from economic cores, lower population density, and limited integration into global networks of capital and innovation. Drawing on spatial concepts from human geography, the project interrogates what "periphery" means in the context of digital infrastructure and whether data centres are reshaping core–periphery relations. Rather than treating peripherality as a fixed geographic condition, the project asks: How do data centres produce, reproduce, or transform peripheral spaces — and what spatial relations emerge when global digital infrastructure meets local territorial contexts?

Spatial concepts framing and anchoring the analysis could be

1. Core–periphery models (Friedmann, Wallerstein) provide the baseline: peripheral regions are structurally dependent on cores for investment, governance, and knowledge. Data centres complicate this by routing global capital into remote locations — but often without proportional local economic spillovers.
2. Produced space (Lefebvre) draws attention to how data centres reshape the spaces they occupy: through land use conversion, new infrastructural corridors, altered energy landscapes, and shifts in how local actors conceive of and plan their territory. The project examines data centres not just as objects *in* space but as forces that actively *produce* space.
3. Relational space (Massey, Murdoch) shifts attention from fixed geographic boundaries to networks and flows. A data centre in northern Sweden or rural Ireland is "peripheral" in Euclidean terms but deeply embedded in global fibre-optic networks, cloud architectures, and energy grids. The project asks: does connectivity redefine peripherality?
4. Territorial cohesion and uneven development ground the analysis in policy. EU cohesion frameworks treat peripherality as a challenge to be mitigated — data centres are sometimes framed as instruments of regional development, yet their labour demands are minimal and their energy consumption significant.

The research design follows a comparative case study approach, examining 2–3 data centre sites in peripheral regions (e.g. Germany, Nordic countries, rural Ireland, or southern Europe). Methods include:

• Document analysis of e.g. planning applications, regional development strategies, and corporate site-selection materials
• Semi-structured interviews with local planners, data centre operators, and community stakeholders
• Spatial analysis using GIS to map infrastructure connectivity, land use change, and proximity to energy sources

The project contributes to debates on whether digital infrastructure reproduces or disrupts existing spatial hierarchies, and whether "the cloud" has a geography that matters for peripheral places.