urban - rural

It hit me today after mulching with hay in hour new 2-acre lakefront old White oak grove: I grew up in cities and thought of myself as an urbanite intellectual. I could just move here and never look back, BECAUSE city life with its forceful exclusion of paplable contact with nature is the basis of the Western civilization—I was forced to privilege thought and idea-communities instead of touching & smelling & cultivating.

My experience is pretty much opposite to yours: I grew up in a very isolated area, then moved to the city.
I'm an urban intellectual, but my country upbringing has a major impact on how I live
I think, like most things, "it depends" when it comes to an individual's relationship with the natural world. Living in the city provides me with many opprtunities, socially and environmentally  and since most of my physical and intellectual efforts revolve around plants and food production, contact with nature is just part of the deal.