[evjim]

Industry was concentrated in these centers not by choice of workers. Peter Kropotkin makes a strong argument in "Fields Factories, and Workshops" on how the decentralization of manufacture would benefit the craftsperson.

There actually is a lack of affordable land. Rural land has been amalgamated by the agriculture companies, timber companies, and government. Buying rural land usually has to be done in large acreages and it is still expensive.