Space is the Place

Just trying to summarise and analyse stuff I have been reading...

At the moment, ICT provision for developments and public spaces is generally at the level of the infrastructure: cabling for the buildings and maybe some wireless access for public spaces. In the future there will be tools to help navigate the spaces and perhaps make them more 'livable' accessible via devices (e.g. phone, pda, ipod etc.). Ben Russell's Headspace talks about needing to provide interfaces to new developments. Examples of the kind of solutions that could be available would be: upmystreet (information about the area); social networking tools (to get in touch with people); podcasting (download tours of the area); local google (find services)... All will be available in the space via mobile devices. Some would also be available outside the space (the informational kinds), and some would only be available in the space via location aware devices (more interactive kinds).

Questions: who pays? All these things are currently free, and don't cover all areas. Might a local authority or developer decide at some point that these things are worth paying for? Might local people pay for them? Would advertising sustain them? Might volunteers build them?