Climate, infrastructure and the mediation of Miami: The spatial and discursive politics of the Network Access Point of the Americas

Abstract

The Network Access Point of the Americas, housed in a massive 750,000 square foot structure in downtown Miami, is both data centre and internet exchange point, funnelling informational traffic from and among the United States, Central and South America and the Caribbean to more than 148 countries around the world. In addition to looking at it as a key piece of informational infrastructure, the analysis of the NAP presented in this article unpacks it as both a part of the built environment in Miami and a fantastic discursive production, a work of narrative-making in the city and the larger world. The ecocritical approach of this study includes a visual analysis of the NAP, a textual analysis of the promotional materials Equinix, its owner, produces about it and a situation of this data centre and internet exchange point within the development history and contemporary position of downtown Miami.