The surrounding walls need doors and windows so that the spaces are overlooked and full of movement . You need direct routes - an extra quarter of a mile really matters when walking or in a wheelchair. You need landmarks like church towers to orientate yourself . A high density of development is desirable so that a community can support and walk to as many facilities as possible and meet many people when doing so. Walking should impose more influence on urban layouts than any other form of mobility.
Cycling is also sociable.
You can stop to talk if you want. Combined with trains, if access were allowed, you could get to most destinations conveniently. Public transport limits your decisions but has a sociable element. The space they require halves the density of development that could otherwise be achieved, while the ground space they require when moving has been calculated as sixty times the space required by people walking. Perhaps the problem is with the process by which layouts are achieved.