my apologies, i completely misunderstood what you were referring to in regards to the block width. Because the buildings are shown as one large area,I thought the issue you were pointing out was the position and shape of the areas. Now that i'm on the same page as you, I agree that having individual buildings would be better. I might start mapping some of them.

re: footpaths: I think that the second option you mentioned is the better option. I don't see the point of dumping the existence of a sidewalk into the attributes of the road. It's a distinct feature of civil infrastructure, so I personally think it should be marked separately on the map.