I think I define city differently than you, T. Suburbs count, in my book. (I know the suburbs can be pleasant or at least OK, btw). Do you feel there is no connection between urbanisation (and suburbanisation) and the "decline of the wonderful"? I feel that there might be - I could be wrong of course. I haven't thought properly about it yet. My feeling is that the imbalance you speak of is exacerbated by the "de-natured" forms of our modern lives. Grass and parks and trees and gardens are great but they are "tame", if you understand me - they are nature expressed through a human filter, not nature herself. Nature says something to us (maybe not all of us
) at a subliminal level - she built us after all and we are made to be in her - and there is something satisfying about the forms of chaos, the unpredictability, the complexity and the cruelty of the natural world that goes far beyond the aesthetic. Perhaps you could say she puts you in your place - and maybe there's a lot of people these days who don't know what that place is. And before someone gets out the flamethrower, I am not speaking literally about the above.
Bother, I am running out of time - we're having power issues out here (on the farm) so my computer time is limited at present. Will come back when I can and rave on some more - I'm not explaining well and must dash.