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What do you like about cities, actually?
I like "walking in a city" as a thing in itself and I want to have that. In a small city you can entertain yourself by visiting friends, doing things together, going to shops/clubs/libraries/etc. But if I'm on my own, I prefer walking.
I love broad sidewalks. Even big cities don't always have broad sidewalks, let alone small ones.
I love big spaces that aren't parks.
I have memories that are tied to places; if I'm in a big city I have more memories "at once" because memories from different places are sort of in parallel. "This happened.. and that happened.. and that happened" — and all of that happened in different places! So it all can be remembered.
Big cities have more flashy things. More building designs, more weird ads.
I love that big cities have a downtown — walking in places where people live is upsetting sometimes. There's something unhappy about the quiet suburban life. Generally, "people live here" makes me feel like I'm alone, especially in the evening. "They all are living there, sitting in cozy rooms, together, drinking tea, talking, and here I am wandering the streets all by myself." When walking in downtown, I don't feel any of that.
I love that I no matter where I am, I am five minutes away from a place where I can eat. I love that there are big stores where everything is together and I don't have to think "where would I get [something]". Big grocery shops are awesome too — they have more rare things. And there are specialty shops. In a small town you won't necessarily be able to find a certain cheese that you like; even Minsk, a two-million-city, doesn't have any cheese shops, and Minsk isn't small. Moscow only has like.. a single good one. Moscow is huge.
I wanted to buy a HomePod in Minsk and I had to wait for a week or pay a 20% markup to get it delivered from Moscow. Big cities usually have more infrastructure for this kind of stuff. Amazon Prime, etc.
Scooters, too!
I get bored of places quickly and I want novelty. A big city can often afford several really long streets. Each is a separate location, and is long enough for a nice stroll. In a small city, you walk a bit and then you have to choose where to go, again and again.
Sometimes there aren't even clearly defined "locations" in small towns, at all, so kinda.. no different flavors. Everything is just "yeah I'm in the town", "yeah I know this place", "yeah been here too". But there aren't Places. You don't say "let's go [somewhere]". Right now I live in a two-room flat and I can Go To The Kitchen, or Go To The Living Room, or Go To The Bedroom, and it's nice — because each one is different and I can allocate them for different activities or moods. A small city is more like a studio, maybe? Cozy, but you can't get out of it.
I don't like living anywhere that's not close to the city center, though, so even in a big city I feel kinda bad unless I'm in the center. When I lived on the outskirts of Berlin, I felt like "okay, this is where I sleep, yeah". It's better when I have people around because I feel much better with people around. Exploring/walking/etc becomes interesting again. I get more energy and I'm not low-key upset.