Professor Fard collaborates with international researchers to study the sociospatial impacts of data centers
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Assistant Professor of Architecture Ali Fard is part of international cohort of researchers who are collaborating on a multi-year comparative study of the sociospatial impacts of data centers in three global cloud regions: Zürich, Switzerland; Northern Virginia, USA; and Zhangjiakou, China. Each of these critical infrastructural zones features specific spatial characteristics and presents unique social and environmental challenges. The research team's study is supported by a grant awarded by the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS).
Fard, who is director of MISTlab, will lead the research focused in Northern Virginia as a continuation of an ongoing investigation into this region, home to the largest concentration of data centers in the world. Fard's research, nearly five years in the making, examines this quickly changing landscape. In Loudoun County, there are more than 25 million square feet of data centers in operation, with another 4 million in development. As Fard explains, "This is the infrastructural landscape that underwrites the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and bolsters the growth of smart cities."
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Using a robust methodology that combines mapping, fieldwork, and design-research prototyping, the project ("The Production of Cloud: Territorial and Architectural Strategies for AI's Socio-Environmental Footprint") aims to establish a comparative knowledge base across the three regions and develop a catalog of spatial strategies and policy recommendations that promote a more sustainable model for data infrastructure development — one that is both globally relevant and locally specific.
The team's results will be shared through open-access publications, a design manual with policy briefs, a public symposium with an exhibition, and teaching modules at ETH Zürich and UVA.
The Production of Cloud: Territorial and Architectural Strategies for AI's Socio-Environmental Footprint
Project Team:
Milica Topalović — Coordinator, ETH Zurich
Yiqiu Liu — Co-coordinator, ETH Zurich
Adrian Altenburger — Principal member, Hochschule Luzern HSLU
Ali Fard — Principal member, University of Virginia
Naomi C. Hanakata — Principal member, National University of Singapore
Martin Kohlberger — Principal member, ETH Zürich
About the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS)
Founded in 2008 as the successor to the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN), the SNIS was created by the Canton of Geneva and the Swiss Confederation to broaden activities and funding opportunities for academic institutions and researchers across Switzerland. Its legal structure is a société simple, defined by a founding contract between the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. SNIS funds projects that connect science with international organizations and NGOs to produce policy relevant results.
