We've build our urban centers as places that prioritize cars over people, and we're suddenly confused as to why people don't want to spend time in them.
In small towns maybe less because most people going shopping aren't from the town itsef but its surroundings so if they need to bring a car in the first place, they'd rather go where they can park it. And this is somehow a failure on how most european cities have tackled mobility itself. A lot of urban areas have been equipped with more or less secure bike paths, but they too often become impractical or plain dangerous outside in the larger area outside of the cities.
If you can’t put a picnic table on it, it’s a place where movement must be prioritized over recreation.
But we did remove traffic from half of Oxford Street last week.