Engineers Versus Peasants? Narratives and Local Anchoring of a Conflict Concerning a Future Data Centre in an Alpine Valley

This article explores the dynamics and conflicts surrounding the establishment of a data centre in the Alpine region of Non Valley, Italy. The project, supported by a public-private partnership, aims to install a web infrastructure in a former mine in the belly of the Dolomites. It benefits from an appropriate legal framework and environmental conditions perceived as favourable, particularly in terms of the data centre's energy consumption. In particular, the article highlights the local tensions generated by this project. On the one hand, it is seen as a development opportunity for a region facing economic and social challenges, including desertification and an ageing population. On the other, it raises environmental and social concerns, as the project involves the use of two local resources: water and communal land. Local reactions to the project are varied: some residents oppose the way it is being implemented, while others see it as a promise of modernity and economic renewal. More generally, the study reveals how web infrastructures such as data centres are not just material supports for the digital economy but also vectors for change in the social and environmental imaginaries of such Alpine areas. Finally, while illustrating the complexities and contradictions inherent in setting up such infrastructures in rural and mountain contexts, the case of Non Valley highlights a new way to produce value from the material ecologies of the Alpine mountains. Therefore, it invites a renewal of critical studies of development and modernisation in these mountain areas.