As a counterpoint to London, consider that in equivalently thriving cities in the US, due to poor planning and investment in transit infrastructure, living near the outer edge of the city means very long commutes into the jobs and idea centers.<p>By comparison, people I know living in &quot;outer&quot; London Suburbs (Wembley, Harrow, etc.) enjoy many public infrastructure benefits that you have to be in the inner urban core to enjoy in the US (again, in equivalently vibrant regions in the US, not in the dying cities).<p>Also, UK and European suburbs and small towns seem to have more mixed-use or close proximity residential and retail zones, perhaps because their layout predates the advent of cars, trucks, and freeways.<p>Not that it&#x27;s all peaches over there, but in some ways, the urban &quot;planning&quot; seems much better.