Can’t disagree with any of it. The trick is figuring out how to support yourself but also have a short or nonexistent commute without living in the horrid city. I would go mad if I had to live in a city again.
The trick is to find, nurture -- and when absent, rebuild -- strong, safe, attractive neighborhoods within the city. Most big cities have them, just not enough of them, and they are great places to live if you are fortunate enough to find one close to your work. If we could figure out how to make good neighborhoods the norm, we would have done something worth doing.
My current view is that the disaster in urban public education is the single biggest factor. Cities still attract young people. They come for a job, are attracted to the urban amenities, and prefer not to spend the lion's share of their free time in a car. But time passes, and they marry and have kids. And then, more than any other single factor, it is the lousy schools that drive young families out.
A walkable, bikeable neighborhood with job, stores, schools, and church within a mile or two radius is golden. These are places where one could easily live without a car. We abandoned that model in the 60's when LBJ and the Great Society smashed so much in their wrongheaded pursuit of a misguided master plan, and a lot of cities have been building poorly ever since. Cities across the country are now trying to rebalance. You see the same dynamic in reverse in some of the denser suburbs, which nowadays are often trying to create mini-city centers with a small town feel.
I live on the outskirts of warsaw. It takes me about 45 minutes by bicycle to get to my office. I have forests close to me. A small/medium sized city is the way to go :)
Life’ll kill ya.