I spent some time living in a major city. While it was fun, the absolute worst part was no nature access. A park doesn't cut it, and taking a train an hour and a half for a hike wasn't always feasible. It's ultimately an unsatisfactory way of living and I do think there is some jealousy.
Small towns of mixed sub-urb/rural sprawl with a "downtown core" of maybe three hundred acres of centralized economics is the way to go. The drawback to it is you'll have likely two-three big businesses "dominate" the town, and their success or failure will impact the town's QoL, but I think the benefits outweigh that risk.
I spent some time living in a major city. While it was fun, the absolute worst part was no nature access. A park doesn't cut it, and taking a train an hour and a half for a hike wasn't always feasible. It's ultimately an unsatisfactory way of living and I do think there is some jealousy.
Small towns of mixed sub-urb/rural sprawl with a "downtown core" of maybe three hundred acres of centralized economics is the way to go. The drawback to it is you'll have likely two-three big businesses "dominate" the town, and their success or failure will impact the town's QoL, but I think the benefits outweigh that risk.