What you’re describing sounds like a city guide map. These pedestrian-oriented maps typically depict streets as negative space between the blocks, which contain the interesting bits. They may still include some car-oriented details like one-way arrows and parking lot symbols, but the roads aren’t the primary focus.
I think there’s still a lot of ground to break in rendering a city guide map out of OSM data. Among 2D maps, the closest things I can think of are Straßenraumkarte Neukölln, which imitates an urban planning sketch in its realism, and A/B Street, which is more of a traffic simulator. 3D renderers typically also deemphasize car-centric functional classification in favor of physical characteristics.
To achieve the look of a traditional city guide map, the renderer would need to depict roadways at their actual widths instead of some abstract fixed width. Although there is the width=* key and it’s possible to infer street widths using a variety of lane-related keys, it’s difficult to depict the actual widths seamlessly without awkward joints. I think area:highway=* is underappreciated for how it could facilitate urban, pedestrian-oriented renderers.