yeah, i was with that comment until that point. i find it very hard to naturally meet or run across people in the suburbs, though i suppose in smaller rural areas if you are engaged in the community in some way you'd likely see the same people over and over and that could perhaps build your sense of community.

i don't know that the increasing online-ification (or whatever) of the world really has a stronger impact in the city. if anything, as i start to push away from things being online, i find that i'm able to walk or public transit to a place that i can get basically anything i want, and over the past decade or so i've met people through bars, through restaurants, through volunteering, and through other activities around town. i run across people in the street all the time, because they're not in cars - so i have impromptu conversations with friends, neighbors and folks i know from local businesses randomly on street corners. this is a set of benefits that basically necessitates urban density.

i agree that it feels like a city naturally offers you more opportunities to find your tribe offline. if you like music, there are lots of bands and shows. if you're an artist, there are probably others working in the same medium around you. if you like food, you have restaurants to explore. if you like drinks, there's bars. i've been to many rural towns where the community seems to revolve primarily around a singular institution (very often a church) with the folks who aren't part of it trying to make do on the fringes or building smaller support networks.