And, yes, pedestrian traffic jams do happen. There's also untold other costs of traffic, and potential uses for more space:
- Outdoor dining
- retail displays
- kids playing
- Trees, bushes, etc
- Bike lanes
Outdoor dining can be done in backyards (pretty much every 2nd tavern in Athens, a big, sprawling, dirty city) does this.
Retail displays - pardon me, how many more do you need and why do they need to be in everyone's faces in the middle of the street?
It seems that millennials don't really know what they want and aren't flexible enough to choose from available lifestyles in different cities, countries etc. - instead, they what everything together immediately right in the place they live, no matter how contradictory those things are. If you want trees, go to a park. Kids can play there safely, too, without being run over by an ambulance or biker. ;-)
Wake up, "cars" is no longer synonymous with "pollution". I take offence at such ignorance as an EV owner.
As for kids who want everything while condemning capitalism: the problem isn't that they want clean air and play time, the problem is that they demand just as vigorously warm pizza delivered to their home in 10 minutes, furniture brought to their doorstep by whoever sells it on Amazon and the fire brigade to arrive quickly when they set their WLAN-enabled fridges on fire. Obviously, they don't understand how these things relate to each other, but they moan about it nevertheless.
What other useful space would you put between tall buildings? Pedestrians have plenty of space to walk, at least I don't hear much about pedestrian traffic jams.
Roads are very valuable and they're being used for many things that everybody needs: buses, ambulances, fire service vehicles. Do you really want them gone?