I'm not really sure how to describe what I meant so I'll just give my example and see if the conversation goes the way I imagine*

On a local radio show, a little while ago, the host mentioned the band Ween to their international guest. The guest was surprised that the host knew the band but I would feel fine in saying; there would be very few of my generation of Australians who didn't know Ween and I thought it odd that this would be a surprise to anyone.

*knowing you guys, it won't.

Around here, I can talk about euchre and mushroom hunting and no one bats an eye. I go somewhere else and they're going '... wait, what?'

This reminds me something a read years ago (3-5 maybe). I can't remember the reason why the reporter was talking to them for exactly, but it doesn't really matter I guess. Anyway...

The reporter was talking to a group of teens about maybe what it was like living in the city. They proceed to say how boring it is.

Everybody knows everyone here. So you can't go anywhere or do anything without everybody knowing about it. There's nothing to do. There's no place to go. Even if you were to go somewhere, there is nowhere we can hangout.

Okay lets look at where I live. You most definitely, do not know everybody, nor do they know you. There are places teens can go to hangout if they wish. Okay...I will concede that there isn't a lot to do here either.

Now let's do some comparison:

My city has about 11000 people and covers about 19 square km. Not that big, but not too bad. Now for the tiny little city these teens are/were from, which is only 50 km from me.

Their city only has about 253000 people and covers a miniscule 286 square km...

I...just...?!?!?

Apparently if you know everyone on your block and never leave that block, that tells you what the other 285.5 square km of the city is like.

That's like in certain Facebook groups you can have conversations that in other places would at least have people looking at you funny and probably wondering if you should be committed.

My brain always goes ckrkaaaeeeek when people tell me that the averaged size house in the US is something like 2,400 square feet. Over here it's more like 450. 600 square feet is considered a pretty sweet deal, and 1,000 positively palatial.

I'm like, what the heck do people do with all that space? If you have that much space you'd better have an indoor roller rink, or a ball pen, or a room just for hammocks, or laser tag. But nope. It seems that people just have extra living rooms. One for guests, one for family, one for watching TV, one for the teenagers to hang out in and play videogames. Seriously people. Extra living rooms?

Hands up if you know what a toque is.

Our upstairs is divided into three bedrooms, a bathroom, a large living room and kitchen about the same size---minus the stairwell. One bedroom is the home-office of the only one who makes real money around here, the other two are occupied and a couple and a baby live in the living room.

Downstairs is a large living room where we keep all the computers and one tv, a laundry room a little smaller, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. I have one bedroom, the homeowners have the other.

I imagine we have a lot of square feet, but we tend to pack it full.

Also, our population density is much lower than Europe or Asia. Places like New York are the exception to the rule of course. I remember when I went into Pittsburgh several years ago and just seeing how many people were crowded onto the sidewalk gave me claustrophobia, forget even being among them. I can handle the cities in the south that have more sprawl. Also I can usually deal with crowding if there's an unusual reason such as at Dragon Con. But if that's the normal state of things then I'm out of there.

*raises hand* Grew up on the Canadian border. I still have a large selection, moving down to this humid sub-tropical clime has robbed me of the hardiness of my youth.

Then never visit Hong Kong - you would go mental. An average Saturday afternoon in a shopping mall is like Dragon Con. I, on the other hand, would go mental living in a sprawled US city because I cannot contemplate having to get into a car just to go to the 7-11 to buy a bag of chips. I like walking. It is my main form of exercise, but I would rapidly stop liking it if there were nowhere to walk but in circles.

*Raises hand*
I once dated a Canadian for 3 years.

Yeah, I had already planned on avoiding most of Europe and Asia. They've had way too many years to get crowded. I might like to try Great Britain some time to check out some ancestral places but considering the fact that at least part of the English ancestry dates back to Plymouth rock, there's probably not much left.

Country boy over here. I can stand cities, even crowded ones, but I still prefer the howling wilderness, the more desolate the better. Calgary works for me because it's got more greenspace in it then some US counties. (It has an entire provincial park inside the city, and that's not the largest piece of greenspace there is) and its spread out over more area than most cities with three times it's population. The downside is that while public transit can theoretically get you anywhere in the city, you better leave six hours early to get to some of the more remote places. In short, you need a car to get anywhere, or do anything.

Yep. Though I must confess I didn't know the spelling until now.

We have large properties and large houses. I work in architecture and have seen "normal" lots subdivided into three single lots and the houses on those are still 3 to 4 bedroom houses. There is a correlation to how awful and expensive our public transport is. I much prefer a compact city like Singapore or London.

Los Angeles has pretty good public transport for a sprawled out city. Excellent bus service and good light rail with upcoming extensions to said light rail. In fact it was a life saver when I got in a minor wreck two years ago because I was still able to get to work.

Population density is higher on the west side, I have no idea as to where the west side compares density wise to other parts of the city or other cities.

The quirky thing about the LA area isn't the big city, it's the fact that the county is pretty much "wall to wall" with littler cities. Only the city limit signs mark them out. And then there are the unincorporated territories of the county which look like cities but aren't.

(I am quite fond of Los Angeles, being a native and all =)

I have no idea what a toque is.