Milan, capital of data centers: Politecnico di Milano mapping
Milan confirms itself as the main Italian hub for digital infrastructures. In the city area, 33 of the 49 active data centers in Lombardy are concentrated, a region that hosts almost half of the structures in Italy.
The data comes from the first mapping of data centers in the metropolitan area carried out by the ProdAction project of CRAFT – Center of Competence for Antifragile Territories of the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) at Politecnico di Milano.
The results, presented during the international conference “Datascapes. Exploring the Spatiality of Digital Infrastructures,” highlight a strong concentration of these infrastructures in the Milan area. The 33 active structures are distributed across 32 municipalities of the Metropolitan City. Considering that there are approximately 200 data centers in Italy, those located in the Milan metropolitan area represent a significant share in energy terms, with around 414 MW of nominal power, equal to 68% of the national total.
The research, coordinated by Professor Eugenio Morello and Researcher Cristiana Mattioli, assisted by Researcher Alice Franchina, analyzes not only the location of infrastructures but also their territorial impact: from electricity demand to land use, as well as environmental and urban procedures. The study involved numerous stakeholders, including municipalities and the Metropolitan City of Milan, architecture firms, engineering companies, developers, and sector operators.
The trend is confirmed, already clear in the international panorama, to create Campus Data Centers, large complexes of multiple buildings with very high capacities.
Eugenio Morello, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies
Alongside the already operational structures, 10 are currently under construction, and 23 are under evaluation by local authorities.
The goal of ProdAction is to provide data, analysis, and policy recommendations to support administrations and public decision-makers in sector regulation, with particular attention to sustainability and balanced territorial development.