When data centers meet tulips: researching the energy transition through a spatial ethnography

This blogpost is a result of the graduate seminar “Interfacing the (In)formal City” 2021

Rianne Riemens
25 April 2021 

When data centers meet tulips:
researching the energy transition through a spatial ethnography 

“Middenmeer is known for its tulips. Google is proud that our newest datacenter is located here,  an investment of no less than € 500 million” (Google 2021). On the web pages Google has  dedicated to its data centers, the tech company uses statements such as this one to proudly share  the locations of the data centers and the value they bring to the local community. But despite the  emphasis on the benefits of Google’s local presence, data centers and the space and energy that  they require are causing tension in local communities, such as Middenmeer in the Netherlands. In  this blog, I study how a creative research method such as spatial ethnography can help to map the  spatial relations between citizens, political institutions and tech companies in a local community.  

Middenmeer is located in the municipality Hollandse Kroon, in the province Noord-Holland. The  area is a polder landscape, created in the 1930s. As a report by Dutch newspaper NRC explains,  five hundred families were chosen to start an agricultural business in the area and form a  community together (Rengers & Houtekamer 2020). But in recent years, the landscape has  changed. Farmers have build enormous greenhouses, or sold their land to companies such as  Google to build data centers or to energy firm Vattenfal, that has created a large wind farm. But  while some farmers profited from the sale, others have kept their agricultural business and homes  and are now surrounded by large-scale industries and wind farms. While the municipality keeps  emphasizing the economic benefits of the industrialization of the area and actively lobbied with  Microsoft to arrange its arrival in the area, residents have joined protest groups. Besides the  pollution of the landscape, they argue that the high energy need of the data centers prevents that  the wind energy is used to cut down on the national use of fossil fuels (Rengers & Houtekamer  2020). The energy infrastructure in Hollandse Kroon thus presents a complex case in which  different actors have different interests, and where global issues such as an increased dependence on digital technologies, as well as the climate crisis, become tangible.  

The case of Middenmeer/Hollandse Kroon makes clear how different actors can have very  different social realities. While Google presents its local presence by emphasizing its economic  benefits, citizens worry about the changing landscape. And although Google and Microsoft  proudly share that their businesses run on green energy, local residents cannot install solar panels  on their roofs because the energy net has reached its maximum capacity (Rengers & Houtekamer  2020). Such different perspectives can be studied through an urban humanities approach that  focuses on the specificities of a location and actively involves the people that inhabit the area. A  valuable method is spatial ethnography, that “analyzes the role of space—built, represented, and  symbolic—and how it gives rise to various kinds of cultural meanings, expressions, and  stratifications (social, cultural, economic, or political)” (Cuff et al. 2020, 87). It allows to take the  historical and cultural context of Middenmeer into account, as well as the economic and political  interests of local and international commercial parties and local politicians. A spatial ethnography  enables a researcher to ask questions about the ownership of the landscape and the  representation of conflicting interests. Through this, the methodology has the potential to expose  “inequities, power structures, and forms of dispossession and thus presents a key approach to the  transformative possibilities of realizing spatial justice” (Cuff et al. 2020, 96).  

While a creative method such as spatial ethnography has the potential to assist in realizing spatial  justice, there are risks that deserve careful consideration. In their discussion on the politics of  participatory design, Huybrechts et al. (2020) argue that when research projects result in certain  visions on the future these need to both address big issues at stake as well as local realities (7). To  design the project with attention to ethical concerns means to carefully address the impact of the  project in relation to the material realities of participants and the spatial and temporal dimension  of the case (9). The spatial dimension requires a focus on the complexity of issues across different  scales. The issues of Middenmeer relate to regional and national policies and involve companies  that operate globally. The temporal dimension requires historical awareness, in order to  understand how subject positions form and change across time. In the case of Middenmeer, the  history of the polder landscape, the presence of farms and the national debate about land usage  need to be taken into account. 

In conclusion, the case of Middenmeer/Hollandse Kroon presents an interesting research subject  because it makes the impact of global issues such as increased digitization and the climate crisis  on local communities tangible. It demonstrates the complexity of the transition to an economy  fueled by green energy and problematizes the power relations that shape this transition. A spatial  ethnography helps to map out how a local community is effected by this transition and what the  consequences are for local residents. But, this method can only offer a valuable research approach  if the case is situated within national and international developments and when the research is  also of value to the participants involved after the research is completed. 

References 

Cuff, D., Loukaitou-Sideris, A., Presner, T., Zubiaurre, M., & Crisman, J. J. A. (2020). Urban  Humanities: New Practices for Reimagining the City. MIT Press. 

Google. (2021). “Datacenter Middenmeer.” Retrieved from https://www.google.com/about/ datacenters/locations/middenmeer/ 

Huybrechts, L., Teli, M., Zuljevic, M. & Bettega, M. (2020). “Visions that Change. Articulating the  Politics of Participatory Design.” CoDesign, 16:1, 3-16. DOI: 10.1080/15710882.2020.1728907.  

Rengers, M. & Houtekamer, C. (2020). “Gebroken beloftes: hoe de Wieringermeerpolder  dichtslibde met windturbines en datacentra.” NRC. Retrieved from https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/ 2020/06/05/gebroken-beloftes-hoe-de-wieringermeerpolder-dichtslibde-met-windturbines-en datacentra-a4001882