To escape city life, embrace it

"If 16 million New Yorkers moved to the countryside to escape from city life, the devastation would be terrible. But what if the way to improve life is not to move the people to the countryside but, in a way, to move the countryside to the city? That is part of the idea behind the happy city and livable streets movement."

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2008/02/to-escape-city.html