[Robotbeat]

A lot of people /don't/ want to stay on Earth.

(And people also want to go to Antarctica... There are multiple "colonies" there, by Chile and Argentina, thousands live there in the summer, and about a thousand people winter over there, and tens of thousands of tourists travel there annually... All this in a place that is illegal to mine, illegal to claim nationally, and even illegal to build new permanent structures by international treaty, thus essentially illegal to build a city or anything like a real economy, which would require mining at least for gravel.)

The interesting thing about people is that there are many different kinds with many different motivations.

Although I do suspect that space settlements will be even more urbanized and centralized than Earth cities. The extra costs associated with living in space are reduced by living in larger settlements/cities (think surface area to volume ratio), and just like on Earth, economic productivity will increase with increasing population density.

[vacri]

I think most people who want to live off-planet have a very romanticised notion of what that entails. Mars isn't going to be terraformed within our lifetimes, even if it was possible. Living on Mars = living permanently in a tunnel. And if you don't get along with the small community you'll be living with, you'll be screwed. And if you don't like living a fairly regimented lifestyle, you'll be screwed as well; there'll be no equivalent of "let's see what cafes are down this alleyway!".

I think far more people actually want a 'holiday' off-planet, than actually live off-planet.

[Robotbeat]

As far as the latter point, that's fine & perhaps expected. That's why we need to make transport cheap enough so people can come and go.

I know what it's like to live life in a tunnel. That's the Twin Cities in Minnesota during the winter. Minnesota is where the modern indoor shopping mall was invented. The entire downtown of Minneapolis is still walkable in the middle of the winter because all the buildings are connected by temperature controlled skyways and tunnels. No reason you can't see what cafes are in the next building or indoor level.

[RugnirViking]

> let's see what cafes are down this alleyway > And if you don't get along with the small community you'll be living with

You just described rural life in some places pretty much

> living permanently in a tunnel

Adding that one makes it more like living on a submarine or large boat.

Which while unpleasant prospect for many people, there are those who enjoy and/or even prefer it to normal life