Like the ideas you’ve posted.
Checking are you aware of Devconnect ? It does sound like for the near term the Devcon organizers have full plates with Devcon and Devconnect.
Devconnect 2023 if there is one, has not been announced.
Like the ideas you’ve posted but another issue that many probably see is that there are still many places for Devcon (and Devconnect) to reach. It is a good idea that Devcon-lite could be a practice for Devcon, but choosing the same place twice has an opportunity cost / tradeoff.
I think it is quite interesting to consider Devcon 2023 in Amsterdam, and Devconnect 2023 in Istanbul, and Devcon 2024 Istanbul. First reactions of people are probably not a good tradeoff (why choose Amsterdam and Istanbul twice): IMHO choosing twice does not seem as bad as it first looks.
But a potential logistic challenge I see is that Devconnect is around Q2, and Devconnect is Q3/Q4: what is well in Q2, might not be as well in Q3/Q4…
A forum topic on the core aims also seems worthwhile to discuss and make explicit. Another angle to it is Your Devcon aspirations
EDIT: Devconnect was not intended to be Devcon-lite, but a variety of community events etc... But I think it's possible for Devconnect to be Devcon-lite without losing some of what Devconnect wanted, like the surrounding events organized by the community.