This essay was produced as part of an assignment for the Global Digital Infrastructure Certificate at the University of California, Berkeley.

The course is a collaboration between the university, DCD>Academy, the SubOptic Foundation, and iMasons to establish a cutting-edge university curriculum that covers the technical, economic, legal, environmental, and social dimensions of the global Internet’s infrastructure.

As part of this partnership, DCD will be publishing work from some of the students on the course, starting with this look at community engagement.

“The internet is as complicated as we are. To uncritically call every facility a data center would be like calling everything with feathers a bird.”

Brandon Gries shared as the first guest speaker to students in the University of California, Berkeley’s Certificate of Global Digital Infrastructure 101 course.

Anyone who's spent even a feather’s weight of their career in digital infrastructure can appreciate the sentiment. No one would confuse the nesting needs of a pigeon with those of an osprey - nor should we lump together the demands of hyperscale, colocation, or Edge facilities.

In this industry, we pride ourselves on nuance: we chase efficiency, design for specificity, and build to solve increasingly complex problems. But the public? They’re looking at us like a noisy flock - indistinguishable, intrusive, and occasionally pooping on the proverbial hood of their civic pride.

And lately, they’re pushing back.

Fowl play: the cost of poor communication

Data center development is soaring - fueled by AI, cloud demand, and an always-on economy. But that growth is increasingly grounded by community resistance.

According to Data Center Watch, over $64 billion in data center projects were delayed or derailed between March 2024-March 2025 due to local opposition.

A lack of clear, consistent communication has left communities in the dark, allowing outdated narratives and clickbaiting headlines to dominate perception and influence emerging regulations. The result? A wave of new policies shaped by public perception, not by operational reality. This misalignment can clip the wings of future investment, delay deployments, and fracture public trust. How can big picture digital infrastructure players positively interact with local communities while protecting both their projects and regional resilience?

While it’s tempting to adopt a “cut, paste, build” approach across markets, communities aren’t interchangeable. The same blueprint that works for Virginia’s Cardinal won’t suit Arizona’s Cactus Wren.

Take the Phoenix, Arizona market, for example. It’s now the fourth-largest data center market in the US, recently surpassing Silicon Valley. According to CBRE’s North American Data Center Trend report, Phoenix saw a 67 percent year-over-year increase in inventory, reaching over 602.8 MW in 2024.

Climate, affordable energy, and generous tax incentives have made the region irresistible to hyperscalers and colocation facilities alike. The market has expanded into nearby cities like Goodyear, Buckeye, Mesa, and beyond.

But with growth comes scrutiny. Residents question the long-term water use in a region already strained by drought. They also raise a question about how many jobs does the industry actually create? Business-friendly tax breaks have made it so that communities see very little revenue, and many are concerned about the presence of data centers scaring off other, more glamorous and revenue-heavy industries.

City-specific regulations are ramping up, with towns like Mesa and Tempe city councils recently voting to pass regulations on data center development. Despite stricter zoning rules, the Phoenix market continues to expand, but it will need effective community-first engagement to create a positive long-term relationship with the public.

Current engagement efforts

While public perception of the digital infrastructure industry is still finding its wings, several data center operators in the Greater Phoenix area are already actively working to engage and support their local communities. These efforts span education, workforce development, and nonprofit support.

Community investment

Some companies are offering direct financial support to local schools, nonprofits, and civic programs. Meta brought its Data Center Community Action Grants program to Mesa ahead of its January 2025 go-live. Since 2024, the program has distributed over $422,000 to more than 35 local organizations, supporting initiatives in education, sustainability, and community development. On the flip side, EdgeCore has contributed to smaller, hyper-local community-centered events like back-to-school nights, local entrepreneur pitch events, and local fundraisers.

Building the local workforce

There’s been a concerted push across the region to prepare Arizona’s workforce for digital infrastructure careers.

Microsoft's Datacenter Academy, developed in partnership with Estrella Mountain Community College and Glendale Community College, provides training, certifications, and job placement support in IT and cloud infrastructure. Meanwhile, Meta donated more than $200,000 to the Mesa College Promise, a scholarship initiative helping Mesa residents earn STEM certificates and degrees at Mesa Community College. Colocation companies like Aligned and QTS also offer scholarships, internships, and other educational partnerships aimed at strengthening local pipelines into technical careers.

As the digital infrastructure industry often cites job creation as a justification for new developments, showing a direct link between local students gaining relevant education and landing stable jobs in their community can make that claim visible. Additionally, workforce development programs have the potential to build long-term goodwill as communities can see measurable benefits past the construction phase.

Collaborating with industry and education networks

Several regional operators partner with local chapters of national industry organizations to provide training and professional development.

Industry groups like 7x24 Exchange Arizona, AFCOM Phoenix, the Arizona Data Center Alliance, and the Arizona Tech Council regularly host meetups, technical talks, and hiring events.

While these aren’t always marketed toward the general public, these events are often surprisingly inclusive. Many of these community events come in the shape of happy hours and panel discussions, which are often open registrations and free to attend, creating a low-barrier entry point into what can feel like an insular industry.

Students, local professionals, and government officials are frequently greeted by welcoming industry professionals eager to make connections and offer thought leadership and technical insights that are not often shared online.

Gatherings like these not only help build pipelines of talent but also serve as bridges between the industry and the community. For those curious or critical of the industry, they offer a rare chance to peek inside the culture and leave with both more knowledge and a real human connection.

Partnering with sustainable non-profit actors

Given Arizona’s desert climate and water stress, some companies are forging partnerships with organizations focused on long-term environmental stewardship. Nonprofits like Blue Commons and DigDeep have led community-based water access and sustainability initiatives across the Southwest, and companies like Meta are uplifting the work already in progress by supporting and collaborating with them.

Turning Pushback Into Partnership

Despite these initiatives, the efforts weren’t enough to alter the community mindset ahead of the city council's votes. The updated zoning regulations, which took effect August 8, 2025, for Mesa, now introduce stricter design standards, additional environmental review, and the likelihood of extended development timelines.

A recent Berkeley Lab report examining delays in large-scale wind and solar project developments uncovered familiar themes: community skepticism, surprise opposition, and the realization that money alone doesn’t move hearts. In addition to the initiatives already in motion, there are more opportunities to address these concerns – ways companies can engage that go beyond funding and reach into transparency and authentic collaboration.

Engage early, engage often

Don’t wait for public hearings. Don’t wait until you’re ready to break ground. Connect with residents early in the planning process. Survey the landscape, literally and figuratively. Are people worried about water? Views? Walkable Community? Noise?

No two communities are the same, and neither are their concerns – and those concerns migrate over time. What was true two years ago when you broke ground may be entirely different by the time you’re ready to flip the switch.

Publish a community impact report

Make transparency a standard, not an occasional gesture. A Community Accountability Report could include statistics on jobs created, in all phases, including construction through operations, and what percentage of local contractors or vendors are sourced. Include examples of community enrichment like STEM & Civic Grants (number of institutions, recipients, and total value) and metrics on public engagement opportunities like events held, tours hosted, and share public satisfaction survey data. Get creative and showcase initiatives that reflect local interests and values – like growing tomatoes in your data center or putting an apiary in your greenspace, and include any fun, measurable data to demonstrate the real-world impact.

By publishing clear, accessible metrics, operators help overburdened and often underfunded municipalities, tribal nations, and community leaders easily see how the digital infrastructure industry is benefiting the community and enable them to better articulate where things can improve.

Invest in marketing and communications

Frankly, none of this matters if no one ever sees it. Strong community engagement requires equally strong communication. Invest in your marketing teams to run effective, locally relevant campaigns.

This isn’t about chasing the latest TikTok trend or launching another podcast. A well-supported marketing team will create engaging, data-backed content that meets your audience where they already are. The strongest communicators understand how to speak the community's language, not just the company’s. The most successful organizations invest in audience research to understand what drives their residents’ interest and concerns, ensuring that their outreach builds understanding rather than ruffling feathers.

On winning public trust

If developing markets want to soar instead of stall, operators need to regroup around three shared principles: Understand each unique community, deliver what you promise, and celebrate what you do.

Every community is culturally, historically, and environmentally distinct. Reflect that in design and dialogue by understanding what makes each community unique. When communicating with community leaders or educating members of the public, it is critical to use real numbers, transparent reporting, and stakeholder-inclusive governance, and then deliver what you promise. Make the good work and the good people visible through effective and tailored marketing communications to the audiences that matter most.

Currently, the public doesn’t see nuanced differences between hyperscale and colo, AI, or Mission Critical. They see a big concrete box, sucking power and water, humming away in their town. Without investment into intentional, consistent community engagement, those perceptions will likely persist, and local pushback will intensify.

It’s on all of us—developers, operators, and policymakers—to actively change that picture.

Don’t just show up with an inflexible plan. Bring an open mind. Don’t just tout savings. Tell true stories. Build community before you build facilities. Because in the end, it’s not the biggest wingspan that wins—it’s the one that earns its place in the flock.

Find out more about the Global Digital Infrastructure Certificate here.