Well they say a picture is worth a thousand words:
In this case you probably get the idea. "Urban" is a word which can effectively mean cancer, as far as Gaia is concerned, which is by the way your name. It's hard to forget the look of Denver from high in the Colorado rockies, a small black tumor on the landscape when viewed from great distance - yet one which draws the eye in horror. Biodiversity is hugely destroyed by modern urban environments. There are practically no amphibians (natural mosquito predators), even the plants find it difficult - seeing as there is not even a base of living earth in some places. Pigeons, rats, and cockroaches seem to have found a niche, along with a couple hardy species of grass which poke up here and there. That's about it - the urban environment is basically a desert. This is why building "modern cities" (meaning old box crap designed with no thought to the future) in a desert is doable.
HOWEVER, what is the density of violin teachers in rural areas? What is the likelihood of hearing some different languages? How easy will it be for you to sell your craft items? What diversity of health-delivery agents? An "urban" environment is simply a necessity for us, at least to some extent. Sure, the idiot density goes up a lot faster than the total population density in a city, but even so - the literate density is still somewhat higher than it is in rural areas. There are many benefits to having areas with higher population density.
So what can we do about this? Well we can recognize how the dichotomy is a false one. Sure, we know that certain places are urban, and others are rural, but that doesn't mean that after we cross a certain line we should start paving every square inch of land, and putting street lights up so we can burn more fuel because we are afraid of the dark. It doesn't mean we shouldn't compost. In fact even in densely populated areas it is possible to live in a conscious feedback with some local flora and fauna. One CAN compost, and garden. There could be densely populated areas in a forest! Obviously, we aren't that intelligent yet, but we know it is possible.
The days in which nature was a scary force to be pushed out were in fact never here, for anyone other than the orcs. We need to invite her in, as we know with 100% certainty she is in fact our own life and health. There is no urban and rural dispute really. The trouble is just that urban areas tend to attract those developmentally challenged individuals who think that the world ends when they die, and that remaining ignorant is a skill to aspire to. These individuals will live out their unhappy lives, and the rest of us will compost the corpses.
"A great place to visit but a better place to rob" - Michael Diamond