And yes, part of the problem nobody wants to go back isn't jus the "vibe" and lack of "hip culture, art scene and hipster cafes", but that basic infrastructure like good schools, teachers, hospitals, doctors offices and specialists, have been left to rot and they also moved out of the city(the younger generation) or just retired and died along with the town, so bringing all that back to life is nearly impossible as now it's a catch-22, nobody wants to move there because there are no good doctors and teachers, and there are no good doctors and teachers because there's nothing there.
>It's just conservative, culturally boring, inflexible and really set in their old ways.
But then we can't complain that the hip and open minded urban areas are too expensive when everyone runs away from the rural areas to the same handful of hip cities.
Maybe it's our duty as well to try and push for the change we want in those places, instead of always packing our bags and leaving for the cities that are livable on paper because they already share our mentality but in the process crowding them to the point where the stress around housing makes them unlivable in practice unless you're super wealthy.