Contested visions of regional futures in Inland Norway: data storage, TikTok and the symbolic value of megaprojects
分析了挪威内陆地区建设大型数据存储中心的社会经济过程，指出大型项目作为区域未来想象的象征，其象征价值因参与者立场而异，并揭示了技术绿化、地理尺度和地缘政治三方面的紧张关系。
Abstract Herein, we analyse the social and economic processes that led to the construction of a large data storage centre in Inland Norway. Starting from the theoretical foundation that narratives and symbolic value are important to the emergence of regional development paths—and on the basis that narratives, symbolic value and materiality are strongly interlinked—we argue that megaprojects can be symbols of imagined futures, as well as controversy, in regional development. We identify three main tensions related to the data centre construction: (i) technology and greening, (ii) geography and scale and (iii) the geopolitical situation. Using a path-tracing approach, document analysis and qualitative interviews, we show how megaprojects’ symbolic values vary depending on the positions and perspectives of the involved actors. Theoretically, we emphasise that symbolic value does not exist in a vacuum, but rather is shaped by the dialectic relations between intangible narratives and tangible elements.