After reading the linked article, I am further convinced that these should be tagged as highway=footway. The article for highway=pedestrian states "Generally, mappers use pedestrian tag only on wider streets which might accommodate motor vehicles.". These streets cannot accommodate motor vehicles at all; in fact less so than most routes tagged with highway=footway.

Furthermore, the article describes how these exact areas could be more appropriately tagged as a pedestrian area with a highway=footway running through it. It was/is my intention to do this once the surrounding buildings are filled in.

As a basis for tagging these as highway=footway, I will refer you to the footpaths located with the University College Cork main campus, which I did not add myself. All the ones I have not edited myself are tagged as highway=footway, despite being much wider, having removable bollards to divide them from more active roadways, and regularly accommodating motorised maintenance vehicles.
