Urban Limits as Design Constraints: Identifying Suitable Locations for Distributed, Photovoltaic-Powered Servers

2026-06-17

AI Summary

This study addresses the widespread neglect of local constraints—such as urban physical space, social norms, environmental impacts, and equity—in current distributed server deployment strategies. The authors propose a novel multi-source data approach that integrates legal frameworks, urban planning guidelines, public opinion, and scientific literature to systematically incorporate urban structural, environmental, and social limitations as design constraints for digital infrastructure siting. By constructing a typology of feasible site categories grounded in the built environment and evaluating site viability through energy availability, spatial suitability, and qualitative criteria, the methodology was empirically validated in Montpellier, France. Results demonstrate that localized resources and constraints substantially influence the deployment potential of photovoltaic-powered servers, confirming the approach’s effectiveness in advancing sustainable, equitable, and context-sensitive digital service infrastructures.

Abstract

Urban territories face growing tensions between increasing digital demand, limited resources, and socially constrained built environments. Although distributed computing paradigms such as edge and fog computing are widely presented as solutions for reducing latency and energy dissipation, the scientific literature largely overlooks where such infrastructures can be physically and socially deployed within cities, and typically neglects urban constraints, environmental impacts, and equity considerations. This paper proposes a methodology for identifying suitable urban locations for deploying distributed servers under structural, environmental, and social limits. Relying exclusively on existing infrastructures and anthropised surfaces, it combines legal frameworks, ongoing urban projects, citizen consultations, and scientific literature to construct a place-based glossary of viable site typologies, evaluated through energy, spatial, and qualitative criteria. Applied to the French city of Montpellier, our results illustrate how urban constraints and local resources shape the feasibility of decentralised, solar-powered digital infrastructures, and highlight the value of territorialised approaches for rethinking digital services within urban limits.

Problem

• urban constraints
• distributed computing
• photovoltaic-powered servers
• digital infrastructure
• spatial planning

Innovation

• urban constraints
• distributed computing
• photovoltaic-powered servers
• place-based design
• territorialised digital infrastructure