Cities are a blight on civilization. I genuinely hate them and think it's unacceptable that we allow people to live there. And I'm not even talking about crime rates or pollution or anything like that. My main problem with cities is something that literally every single one of them, without exception, have in common: the lack of agency you have while living there.
You share walls, floors, plumbing and a front yard with your neighbors. You may own the room that you sleep in, but the building it's in isn't yours. Everything around you is owned by someone else, so you never have any control over the space outside the walls of your apartment. Even the richest billionaires have to deal with this.
There's also a distinct lack of privacy wherever you go and yet, city life grants people almost complete anonymity. There's this strange anxiety you feel doing anything because there's always a thousand eyes watching your every move. Yet at the same time you feel a crushing loneliness at the fact that none of those eyes will ever cross your path again after this, let alone remember what you look like. Ironically enough, despite being surrounded by millions of people every single day, cities can end up being some of the most lonely and isolating places a man can live.
But of course, not all of it is bad. At least, not on the surface. After all, cities are "Where Things Happen!™" So in exchange for your agency, your privacy, and your dignity as a human being, you get access to unlimited earthly pleasures. The likes of which you never even thought possible.
Any kind of food you want is available at the touch of a button and delivered straight to your door in a matter of minutes. Bars and other nightlife litter every block, every street corner. Inside, women of every shape, size, body type and hair color drunkenly throw themselves into the arms of men they've never met and will likely never see again. Businessmen flock together around dinner tables at fancy restaurants, serving dishes made from the most exotic ingredients the world over. They discuss business dealings and make connections with powerful people they never would have had the chance to meet anywhere else. All of these things and more are what draws people to cities. And the people who are drawn there are willing to sell their souls for a taste of it.
Living in a city is a real life Faustian bargain.
