> It’s interesting to look at the evolution of Los Angeles as an example of a city that already exists being radically changed, entire blocks of buildings were demolished to make downtown roads so wide

I'm not sure giving LA, one of the poster cities for how not to do urban design, as an example, is a great idea.

Paris did the same thing, only in a much more measured fashion, in the 1760s under Haussmann and Napoléon III.

However destroying parts of a city which is thousands of years old just to increase the size of sidewalks would be to destroy historical monuments for minimal gains. If anything, making most small streets pedestrian and bike only sounds smarter.