I hope things do shift and people favor more urban living, this means less eye sore cookie cutter, car culture sprawl.
I don’t think NYC is the only “real” city in the U.S. Seattle, Portland, SF, Chicago and Boston are are true walk-able real cities (unlike SD). And even some smaller cities like Boulder CO., Burlington VT, Asheville NC, Madison WI, Charlottesville VA are very compact, walkable cities. I think places like all the above are so much more human, liveable, attractive places to be. They also value restoring their historical architectural heritage vs. bulldozing it.
On the other hand…I think the suburban cities that sprawl forever into generic, cookie cutter, car culture, bland anywhere America are nasty places. I would put most of SoCal, Riverside Co., San Bern Co., Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Sacramento, and many smaller places throughout America on this list. It is very troubling for me see so much of America lose it’s uniqueness and turn in one giant ocean of tan stucco cookie cutter houses with the local neighborhood full of fast food chains, big box stores where nobody walks or interacts with anyone.
