Yeah I can find it likely the city grew considerably in the span of 30 years since it was last seen in the prequels, but I don’t remember Mos Espa being built in the middle of a valley surrounded by huge cliffs (and reaching beyond them as well).
I can believe that the portion of Mos Espa we see in TPM is just a suburb and we never see the whole city. This image is pretty low quality but you can see how far beyond the valley it reaches.
I like the thought that’s gone into this as well. I don’t believe the city has grown into the valley since TPM: it makes more sense to begin in there and spread outwards, as the valley provides more shade and presumably protection from winds. And it’s nothing too fancy, but design wise we can see rickety-looking elevator shafts or stairways of some kind, leading up the cliff walls into the city suburbs. That spire that’s comically taller than everything around it could be the city hall, where I’m gonna guess we are heading next week to visit the mayor.