[michaelgrafl]

Part of the problem might be that we didn't evolve to live in groups of people as big as in big cities, so getting angry with strangers in the streets might be the result of not being adapted to that environment.

Now that I think of it, I guess most neuroses nowadays stems from environmental changes we weren't able to adapt to quickly enough (global communication, oversaturation from violent and sexual imagery, etc.) and not from desires that are inherently bad.

[trabant00]

I think it's the density rather than the absolute size of population in cities.

[tartoran]

Big cities tend to have high density. Sure, if density lowered so would the stress levels but cities make use of higher density to make certain things such as public transportation as well as other types of businesses viable which in turn makes the proposition of living in cities more attractive.