"Here's a flat paved plaza. You cannot sit down. The cops will be by to kick you out at 11."

Sure, sounds like a lot of fun.

I don’t see be problem. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing.

Considering the Catalan like to eat dinner late, around 8-10PM. An after dinner stroll to the park is now out of the question. Could it be quieter, certainly. There is a technology available to help. Put up leafy trees or a large canvas canopy to muffle the noise.

Yes, it is a cultural thing.

Squares and parks are supposed to have people meeting and using the public space, not for making a space prettier or as a just a transient area, if that was the case then pedestrian streets would be better to make it denser while having the same features of meeting and traffic.

Benches, chairs, steps are necessary so people can sit relatively comfortably for some time while doing other activities, I don't understand how a flat, paved square is a good thing except for displaying flower beds.

Probably it is. I guess, in many parts of Europe, we're used to city space being usable by everyone for recreation, without wondering who owns any particular stretch of land and whether they'll want to kick us out.

Alas, this seems to be disappearing here too; cities are importing the strange habits of gated off neighbourhoods, and giving every possible public space to private owners, who destroy its utility by trying to make money off it.

Yeah, Americans really don’t like spending time in public spaces unless each person is individually enclosed in a hermetically sealed metal box on wheels.

As a result, places where humans regularly talk to each-other in public freak us out. Why won’t they stop abusing the commons like that?