From a certain point of view a small town should be more walkable than a big city but that all comes down to planning. I've lived in several small towns over the years. Let's compare 2 for example.
Isolated oil industry town of 990 founded in the 1950s. You cannot function without a car. Only a dozen or so businesses or places to go. Everything is far apart, literally ZERO sidewalks. Two high speed highways bisect the town, obviously no sidewalks means no crosswalks either.
Historic 1800s ranching town turned into a resort destination, population 8,000. I never had a car living here and never wanted one (I'd bum a ride to go hiking). Several hundred businesses or places to go, but sidewalks everywhere. Traffic had recently been calmed as the mistakes of the previous decades of car centered design became obvious to the town. The highway through town had a lower speed limit and several safe crossings. The streets were originally planned out before cars and euclidian zoning were a thing. Was very pleasant to be a pedestrian.
In theory the town of 990 could have been even more walkable because combined together all the towns businesses and destinations would have been maybe 10 acres. But instead they were spread out in different unconnected parcels which had dangerous highways between.
I think it's about depressing wages more than anything. Companies know WFH works just as well. But they also know people like it quite a bit. They have it away for free, by making in office default they can negotiate lower wages for people who really want to work from home.
I was once rear ended at a red light. I was knocked unconscious and the driver drove off. A few kind witnesses called police who took a report. They got half his plate imprinted on my bumper, but never tracked him down. I had State Farm, and I was even paying extra for the "uninsured driver coverage". They said they couldn't cover it because until they had another driver's information I was automatically at fault, even with the police report and witness accounts. They said it didn't count as uninsured driver because it's possible the guy had insurance. I was flabbergasted.
In the end I had a concussion and needed to take time off work for recovery and my short term disability insurance ended up suing State Farm because they didn't want to pay for my medical treatment. State Farm agreed to cover medical care but only if it was recorded as my fault and I paid my deductible. In anger I tried to switch insurance companies but found out they have a shared database and since it was recorded as a hit and run my fault, nobody else would take me. And State Farm jacked my rate up 30%...
When I last visited Argentina Uber was using the official exchange rates which were just fantasy numbers. As soon as you match with a driver they'd message you and you'd negotiate the cash price. Then the ride in the app would be cancelled.
Uber didn't mind because they were still getting the ~$1 or so cancel fee for basically being a messaging app.
Lanyard?