>people assume you're either 200 miles from the nearest Walmart or you're in downtown Manhattan/a dense close-in suburb. Go 1-2 hours from pretty much every large city and you can be in pretty rural areas
This must be why "ban cars!" is so prominent on HN. Apparently people here have a hard time imagining a location where they can provide quality-of-life improving utility.
Quality of Life is in the eye of the beholder. A fair number of people do prefer cities.
But to my own example. I live an hour drive out from a major city so, in normal times, within fairly easy range of going in for a night of theater or whatever. But between myself and a couple of neighbors where I live, while not really rural, we're on about 100 acres between us.
This must be why "ban cars!" is so prominent on HN. Apparently people here have a hard time imagining a location where they can provide quality-of-life improving utility.