Comparing one group of people that live in a dense area, and can take a bus to/from work and other places, versus another group of people that each drive a separate car over a much longer distance to/from work and other places. Not to mention the efficiency of heating one large building over lots of small buildings and things like that. I don't think this is much of a contested thing.
I bet it'd be more of a contested thing if there were more environmentalist intellectuals living in the countryside seeking to justify their lifestyles. How far does each population's food travel? How often does the average person in either location travel by plane? What is the lifecycle cost of treating water in a concentrated location versus local wells? What are the positive effects of human activity on the environment in either local?
There are a lot of factors to consider when making that comparison, and if you're going to criticise upstream commentators for handwaving justifications of their own lifestyles, it seems important to consider more the availability of public transit.
https://www.acogok.org/why-transit-matters-environment/