Community Responses to Digital Infrastructure: Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park In South Shore, Chicago

Background: As AI, cloud computing, and emerging technologies are increasingly relied on globally, digital infrastructures are proliferating to meet this demand, yet community responses to their development remain understudied. As a contemporary form of extractive industry, these infrastructures are resource intensive, and their siting and development increasingly reflect historical patterns of environmental injustice. To date, the United States hosts the largest concentration of data centers in the world and community-led resistance efforts have emerged in response to the environmental injustices stemming from their development. Yet, to date, there is no systematic study in the social work literature of who organizes, how they resist, and what concerns drive action in response to data center development.

Rationale: The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) is a state-backed development that will host multiple computing and technology companies in Chicago, including one featuring the world’s first major utility-scale quantum computer. To address a gap in the literature, this qualitative case study explores key actors, tactics, concerns, and perceived outcomes among IQMP stakeholders from publicly available documents to explore the development’s expansion and growing resistance efforts. My guiding research question asks: What characterizes the organizing efforts surrounding data center infrastructure at the Illinois Quantum Computing and Microelectronics Park, including the actors involved, their concerns, strategies, and perceived outcomes?

Methods: A content analysis of (n= 50) public reports, news articles, documents, and community publications discussing the IQMP development was conducted. I adapted Fereday and Muir Cochrane’s (2006) hybrid inductive-deductive coding approach, with deductive codes derived from Pellow’s environmental justice framework.

Results: Developers describe the IQMP as a state-of-the-art, public-private partnership comprised of government agencies, academic institutions and leading technology companies who share the goal of accelerating human potential to create the future. Proponents frame the development as a driver for economic growth, job creation, and that is places Illinois a leader in technological innovation. In contrast, local stakeholders and organizations raise concerns about further environmental contamination; land and water-use decisions; health risks; rising utility costs; whether jobs created will go to residents; gentrification; and displacement. Some groups oppose development altogether, some have formed a coalition to demand greater transparency through a community benefits agreement (CBA), and others have begun to organize in support of the development. The spokesperson for the IQMP broadly states that the facilities will not pollute the air and the technologies developed in the park could address challenges like the climate crisis and advancing clean energy. Coalition members advocating for the CBA contend that the stakeholders fail to offer what the community needs, and instead of listening, opportunities for meaningful input are limited and concerned residents are overpoliced and excluded.

Conclusion: It is critical for social workers to understand community-led organizing efforts to address the environmental injustices communities are facing, particularly as vulnerable populations bear the brunt of these consequences. As digital infrastructure is forecasted to increase significantly in this digital era, this study supports social work’s ethical responsibility to broader society. Expected outcomes will inform future participatory planning, and policy discussions.