La materialidad del cloud: centros de datos y configuraciones territoriales de la infraestructura digital en Lombardía

The expansion of the digital economy and cloud services are conventionally analyzed through strictly energy-related or technological lenses. In contrast to these approaches, this paper shifts the gaze toward the purely morphological dimension of data centers. Here, they are treated as concrete territorial objects that occupy land, demand heavy infrastructural backbones, and reshape the physical landscape. With its dense, extended urbanization, the post-metropolitan regional laboratory of the Lombardy plain, the Milan metropolitan area, and the Bergamo territory offers a clear view of how these architectures embed themselves within pre-existing frameworks. Through an interpretive cartographic lens, the paper identifies four distinct, recurring spatial logics: the technical-operational enclave, the infrastructure node merging energy and data, the exploitation of peri-urban margins in productive zones, and the creation of cloud operational landscapes. Ultimately, the analysis reveals that data centers are neither isolated anomalies nor neutral technical shells; instead, they act as powerful catalysts that reinforce the functional specialization of peripheries and intermediate spaces. The paper concludes that the cloud entails a heavy, highly selective spatial materiality, making the understanding of its physical anchors essential to grasping the morphological mutations that the digital globalization inflicts upon contemporary urban regions.