One may walk, sit, or read in such a courtyard. It seems that in your approach toward Chinese city, you are giving up big proposals and going into private spaces which are made into something public in the process. You could be right about the big proposals since we haven't done any. In fact, what we do is a kind of urban infill. However, it's not a strategy.
Strategies change according to circumstances.
City is complex. We are trying to analyze specific urban conditions to come up with specific tactics, which can be myopic. Thus, we feel like all we do is not building design but micro urban design. Privacy is a delicate issue. When the occupancy of courtyard house changes from single family to multi ones, privacy is lost.