Interestingly enough, my medium-sized city made its main retail street pedestrian-only in the 80s and it is booming. There's no way they'd ever allow cars on it again. People love it. Our downtown is fairly dense and has three universities nearby. They built two parking garages next to it to give people a place to park and they seems to operate close to capacity most of the time. So it has these things going for it.

There is an "activation energy" to walkability. If you drop pedestrian-only development into a car-dependent area, nobody is going to visit.

Personal preference is largely a reflection of the status quo, and in the US the status quo heavily sculpted by federal policy that has favoured car-oriented development for 60+ years.

The weather has a lot to do with it. Most people advocating this car-free stuff never lived in New Orleans, Houston, or Miami from June until October.

The last thing I want to do is walk to a grocery store and carry home food for a family in the 95 degree heat and 95% humidity.

That also applies to those living in cold climes. Nobody wants to walk through five inches of slush or in a blizzard.

The irony is that malls are always built indoors without cars. I think it depends on the type of retail, and what they want.