Territories of Digital Intelligence

Abstract

The rapid expansion of digital infrastructure across the Netherlands has sparked acute territorial friction, as the material demands of data center clusters increasingly clash with the physical capacity of regional landscapes and saturated power grids. This thesis addresses the unsustainable paradigm of the digital intelligence as an isolated, resource-extracting industrial fortress by proposing a multiscalar design framework rooted in the concept of “Radical Integration.” Moving systematically from macro-territorial strategy down to nano-scale architectural details, the project redefines data centers not as mono functional utility voids, but as open, multi-programmatic public assets and metabolic anchors. Methodologically, the research bridges political ecology, spatial planning, and architectural design through a multi-dimensional analysis and dynamic scenario matrices targeting the year 2040. Spatially, the framework deploys specialized typologies tailored to the distinct socio-ecological conditions of the Dutch landscape. In urban cores, data infrastructure is vertically stacked to host civic spaces and power local innovation networks, while in rural and industrial production zones, facilities form circular metabolic alliances. Backed by an actionable regulatory and policy road map across national, regional, and municipal governance levels, this work demonstrates how digital infrastructure can be stripped of its corporate opacity. Ultimately, the project materializes a new spatial contract that transforms contested computational hubs into socially integrated, democratically accountable, and ecologically resilient components of the public commons.