If a data center is camouflaged in the woods, will anyone hate it?
Communities across the U.S. are pushing back against the rapid expansion of massive data centers that disrupt local landscapes and infrastructure. In response, companies like Microsoft are exploring 'biomimicry' to design facilities that blend into natural environments.
Why it matters
As AI infrastructure demands grow, the tension between tech expansion and local environmental/community preservation is becoming a significant urban planning issue.
San Antonio City Councilmember Ric Galvan remembers when data centers first arrived in his city in the 2000s, looking like relatively unassuming office buildings. But that’s changed in recent years, as data centers have grown into massive “hyperscale” facilities spanning millions of square feet and housing the physical infrastructure for AI.
There are now more than a dozen data centers in Galvan’s roughly 55-square-mile district, and he expects that number to grow to around 20 over the next few years if proposed projects are completed. They’re clustered along two main roads, concentrating nuisances in the same neighborhoods: traffic and trees cut down during construction, followed by constant bright lights and noise when the data center is operating.
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