aplanar calles

A colloquial fixed expression from Peru, Mexico, and Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador) meaning to wander the streets aimlessly or loaf around instead of doing anything productive — close to the English "pounding the pavement" but without the job-hunting connotation; it's just idling.

• En vez de estudiar, se pasa el día aplanando calles. — Instead of studying, he spends the day wandering the streets aimlessly.
• No consigue trabajo y anda aplanando calles. — He can't find work and just wanders around all day.
• Sus padres se quejan de que aplana calles en lugar de buscar empleo. — His parents complain that he loafs around instead of looking for a job.

Taking this literally as "to flatten streets" — it's a fixed regional idiom for idling/wandering aimlessly, not a construction verb, and it's markedly informal, so it doesn't belong in neutral or written registers.