If you look more carefully you can see that in the oldest photo cars are parked at parking places. In the newest photos the parking places appear to have been replaced by trees. Trees which were lacking in the oldest photo.
They should add one more photo. 1989, at the end of the Soviet occupation and then you will understand why nobody wants the fucking Russians occupying and influencing their countries.
To be honest. The last picture looks too sterile and lacking character. And The shops have become transparent.
But most importantly it has the mark of an elitist urban designer who goes everywhere by car and doesn't really use the spaces they design, otherwise they would have never missed to provide benches for walking people to rest. Especially the elderly and the obese.
Cost of housing in Poland takes up less of one's budget than practically any other OECD nation. That being said, Krupnicza is right down in the center of town. It makes sense it'd be expensive to have a flat there. But there are lots of more reasonable options outside the Old Town.
Here are two photos of Plac Szczepański, another public space in Krakow, first in the 1960s(?) followed by the 2020s. It went from being a carpark to being a public square and splash park.
A single block if Google maps is any indicator, it's just not that impressive, but I guess good job closing down one part of a road, sure seems like it hurt the businesses?