I’m not sure I’d draw any general conclusions from your experience. It’s a rather broad brush.
I grew up in a very intellectual city (Waterloo) with a back yard with big wood fences and we just became experts climbing them, venturing from yard to yard collecting half a dozen kids. We’d bike all over, including to the universities (though Laurier campus didn’t feel interesting).
I moved to a very blue collar small city and it feels pretty much the same. My kids are bringing back a lot of nostalgia for me, I’ve made a lot of friends at the curling club, and I’m mentoring a local high school’s robotics team (one difference: I’ve learned that young farmers are incredible engineers).
I wouldn’t suggest that my experience is normal either, though.
I get it. I lived part of my life in Southern Ontario and knew a bunch of people from Waterloo and surrounding areas — absolutely brilliant mechanical minds. (Farmers truly make great engineers — in fact many famous American engineers trace their roots to farming communities in Wisconsin or some such).
But suppose you were interested in Rousseau or Great Books. You wouldn’t find too many people willing to connect on that. But in a big city you will find both types and more.
Ironically enough as a sidenote, Rousseau most definitely was not a proponent of urban living, and in fact detested the intellectual cosmopolitan more than just about anyone else, he went so far as to declare big cities the abyss of the human species. I don't personally agree but that is one tough philosopher for the aspiring urbanite
I grew up in a very intellectual city (Waterloo) with a back yard with big wood fences and we just became experts climbing them, venturing from yard to yard collecting half a dozen kids. We’d bike all over, including to the universities (though Laurier campus didn’t feel interesting).
I moved to a very blue collar small city and it feels pretty much the same. My kids are bringing back a lot of nostalgia for me, I’ve made a lot of friends at the curling club, and I’m mentoring a local high school’s robotics team (one difference: I’ve learned that young farmers are incredible engineers).
I wouldn’t suggest that my experience is normal either, though.