I was in the neighborhood the weekend it opened and strolled through. Thing that struck me was that there was no seating almost anywhere. People were sitting on the floor and it felt like a weird refugee area.
There's no seating because you're not meant to sit. A lot of public space these days is designed to be hostile for that use, so that undesirables like the homeless don't linger, but in the process it becomes hostile to everybody.
A lot of public-facing plazas are meant to be ornamental or monumental and nothing more, which is quite sad.
He literally filmed what people actually did in public spaces, and came up with great guidelines to make them enjoyable.
Architects study this is school. As you say, whenever it isn't implemented, it is because they specifically chose not to, not because they don't know better.
And the parks will give you a ticket if you sit on a bench after sunset. I've gotten them for taking a rest on the way to walking between work and my parking garage.
There's absolutely no entertainment there whatsoever. No movie theater, no play-centers for your kids to play, no public seating... and you need a ticket to walk around the structures. What drunk architect designed this place?