Go onto YouTube and you will see that throughout the countryside of Italy. The difference is people actually want to live in the rural villages of Italy. They do not want to live in poor sections of Detroit and Baltimore because they are not SAFE.
Personally, I would love to see an American “back to the land” movement with the American Dream being a rural house and a nice garden. Internet connections allow people to work for just about any company in any state, while the worker enjoys a bucolic lifestyle in Arkansas, or Maine, or wherever.
I think big cities are an obsolete concept in the 21st century. And I’m not sure suburbs with McMansions make too much sense either.
But I’m not sure how many Americans really want to live in the middle of nowhere. I like it just fine, but I don’t think it’s a common sentiment.