There is a much more selfish, and imo, effective solution to this. Instead of looking down or focusing much on what other people around you are doing, look up

There is a much more selfish, and imo, effective solution to this. Instead of looking down or focusing much on what other people around you are doing, look up and away from the direction you're walking and walk quickly and confidently. I usually focus on the 4th or 5th floor of the buildings across the street. There's still enough awareness via peripheral vision to avoid colliding with people, and that's the only thing you need to worry about. The other humans will be subconsciously aware of the direction your eyes are pointing and be fooled into thinking that you can't see them and are about to run into them. They will basically be forced to move out of the way. Since I discovered this technique a few years ago, I've used it hundreds of times. So long as there's some foot traffic flowing in both directions, you can always get into the oncoming traffic lane of the sidewalk and use this method to make people scatter out of your way.