One of the main points that Jacobs made is that wealth can be created, and there are very well-defined mechanisms to do this. You take raw materials and turn them into products that are actually usable.
You sit down for a few months and write a useful piece of software. You have increased the wealth in your own little part of the world.
What we have been doing in free software, and in the free infrastructure ecosystems, is to replace mainstream goods with self-produced goods.
To do this we need materials (which we need to find or buy), skills (which we can build), and a network of people who will use our products.