September 24, 2021:
I liked the old geography better.
The fact that buildings were crowded together gave it an Old World, organic feeling. That it had grown by evolution, not planning, and was thus adapted to real peoples' needs.
That you had to wend between buildings created a certain sense of adventure. What will you find? Will it be the same, next time? Maybe you'll turn a corner and face a new restaurant, or more likely an old restaurant you simply hadn't fully accounted for on earlier discoveries. Or a leather shop or a shop filled with interesting candies.
Nowadays it's been opened. There's space between things, plus a central courtyard large enough to hold football games. Wandering — flaneur lifestyle — is now about distance rather than discovery. While the best of the long-time restaurants and shops are gone.