I live in Manhattan, and I'm a big fan of Central Park.

The visionaries who conceived of New York City set aside the land of Central Park long before the city had moved that far north. 

They had a sense that the city would grow.

But they didn't take any chances with that...

They also created the Erie Canal which caused the port to grow, which caused banking and insurance to grow here, then accounting and data processing. 

That philosophy continued with the subway system, they built mass transit lines into the middle of farmland, figuring the city would follow. It did.

The reason I mention this is that Central Park is a lot like the open web. 

I'm sure there were cynics at the time of its creation like the tech industry today, who thought there was no value in setting aside a portion of the land of the future city for recreation and inspiration, but history has proven them wrong. The real estate on the edge of the park is the most valuable in the city. Over time it has grown more so, as everyone, rich and poor benefit from the open egalitarian, you might even say idealistic space of the park.

We need a similar approach to the web. Otherwise it's just going to end up with a bunch of tall buildings and no reason for anyone with a mind to be there.