The "ability to walk to a lot of things you can do" implies your agency. You have lot of options, but you're not automatically attached to anything; you can choose what to get involved in. Whereas in villages, "everyone knows everyone and is involved in everyone’s business"; you're attached to everything whether you like it or not, with all the social consequences coming from attachment.
No I get that, I'm just saying I've only heard that from 2 HN users, and not from anyone else who chose to live in NYC or SF in the years I lived there. It's not exactly an obvious memo that AirBnB didn't get.
Fair enough.
This has been my impression as well. If this advantage were removed there’d be little appeal to living in a city.
That's why I moved to Chicago, and staying at Airbnbs while looking for an apartment was fantastic. It was hostel style so while most people were tourists, I also met friends who were in the same position as me.