That's a valid concern. Although, I'm more inclined to think that it's rather linked to our leveling up in the Maslow hierarchy. Caring for next meal is replaced by caring for some other concerns that are less controllable.
Also, regarding the social customs, the point is that groups of people are an organism that has to adapt to the environment and that environment has changed. Social customs hold a small town together, but it's absolutely unreasonable to depend on them in a city, where you're living next to strangers that change all the time.
Why live in a place where you don't know your neighbors, then? Isn't that depressing in and of itself? In an ideal world, your friends would become your neighbors and people would move closer to the people they love, to make "love your neighbor" easier.
Scarcity and anisotropic distribution of resources? Dynamism of your lifetime requirements? Also, some age old sentiment that is encoded in the "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" adage? That would be my 3 guesses for most signifigant contributors.
Also, I would think scarcity, in this climate of supply chain interruption, would favor the spread out places.. where my supply chain is in my back yard, if I'm a farmer, whereas the city needs to funnel much into a greedy-little area.
And when you say "resources", again, you must not be talking about love, which is what most people truly want, when they earn their money. My earlier sentiment of wanting to live near friends, this makes the "love" resource much more plentiful.
Perhaps city folks just don't understand it.
"But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these" 1 Timothy 6:8
He goes on... 9-11
"9Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. 11But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness."
There is something greater than the age. The new dynamism is one of taking the lessons learned in the cities back to the homelands and distributing the gold ( like slaying a dragon ). Sure, I went to the city when I was cutting my teeth, but now I bring business back to my hometown. In a remote world ( and in a corona virus world ), this makes more sense.
Also, regarding the social customs, the point is that groups of people are an organism that has to adapt to the environment and that environment has changed. Social customs hold a small town together, but it's absolutely unreasonable to depend on them in a city, where you're living next to strangers that change all the time.