Mapping the clouds: the matter of data centers
The social spatial geographies of telecommunications and their infrastructures have long interested scholars in the social sciences, and in urban geography specifically. This paper focuses on data centers. Much effort has been placed in preserving the notion that data centers are ‘clouds’, a termino...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Maps |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17445647.2022.2088304 |
| _version_ | 1818161942297051136 |
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| author | Constance Carr Desmond Bast Karinne Madron Ahmad Mafaz Syrus |
| author_facet | Constance Carr Desmond Bast Karinne Madron Ahmad Mafaz Syrus |
| author_sort | Constance Carr |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The social spatial geographies of telecommunications and their infrastructures have long interested scholars in the social sciences, and in urban geography specifically. This paper focuses on data centers. Much effort has been placed in preserving the notion that data centers are ‘clouds’, a terminology that obfuscates the real human geographies of cyberplaces. In this map-making exercise, we visualize the sociopolitical human geographies of data centers, and provoke the reader to consider the impacts that data centers have on residents and their environments. The maps shown in this paper suggest four trends. First, hyperscale data center owners are building near large waterways, signifying a shift in location preferences. Second, data centers stress local administrations, financing, and availability of upstream resources, as hyperscale data centers step up their input needs. Third, data center development is state-led. Fourth the competition for data center industries unfolds across a multi-level governance context. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T16:25:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ac6499236d2b497e8b436e28f26f13e4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1744-5647 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T16:25:47Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Maps |
| spelling | doaj.art-ac6499236d2b497e8b436e28f26f13e42022-12-22T00:58:45ZengTaylor & Francis GroupJournal of Maps1744-56472022-07-011810.1080/17445647.2022.2088304Mapping the clouds: the matter of data centersConstance Carr0Desmond Bast1Karinne Madron2Ahmad Mafaz Syrus3Department of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, LuxembourgDepartment of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, LuxembourgDepartment of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, LuxembourgDepartment of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, LuxembourgThe social spatial geographies of telecommunications and their infrastructures have long interested scholars in the social sciences, and in urban geography specifically. This paper focuses on data centers. Much effort has been placed in preserving the notion that data centers are ‘clouds’, a terminology that obfuscates the real human geographies of cyberplaces. In this map-making exercise, we visualize the sociopolitical human geographies of data centers, and provoke the reader to consider the impacts that data centers have on residents and their environments. The maps shown in this paper suggest four trends. First, hyperscale data center owners are building near large waterways, signifying a shift in location preferences. Second, data centers stress local administrations, financing, and availability of upstream resources, as hyperscale data centers step up their input needs. Third, data center development is state-led. Fourth the competition for data center industries unfolds across a multi-level governance context.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17445647.2022.2088304Amsterdamcyberplacedata centershyperscaleLuxembourgSeattle |
| spellingShingle | Constance Carr Desmond Bast Karinne Madron Ahmad Mafaz Syrus Mapping the clouds: the matter of data centers Journal of Maps Amsterdam cyberplace data centers hyperscale Luxembourg Seattle |
| title | Mapping the clouds: the matter of data centers |
| title_full | Mapping the clouds: the matter of data centers |
| title_fullStr | Mapping the clouds: the matter of data centers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mapping the clouds: the matter of data centers |
| title_short | Mapping the clouds: the matter of data centers |
| title_sort | mapping the clouds the matter of data centers |
| topic | Amsterdam cyberplace data centers hyperscale Luxembourg Seattle |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17445647.2022.2088304 |
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