I enjoy visiting big cities occasionally, but it's not somewhere I'd want to live forever. I'm more of a small-town/rural person, but I'm also pretty picky about my small towns. The one I live in now is a tourist destination with a thriving downtown filled with great restaurants, bookstores, coffee shops, and bakeries - almost all of them locally owned, a boardwalk filled with shrimp boats and a spectacular sunset most every night, miles of gorgeous beaches on the far side of town (which happens to be our side :), 4 public parks within walking distance of our house, and miles of greenway along a marsh. The locals love to complain about the tourists, but I appreciate them, because their money keeps the economy humming and pays for things that I find value in. Suffice it to say that I find this location motivating.
On the other hand, our previous residence was in the middle of a dying town with more payday loan shops than local restaurants, a failing school district, and palpable racial tensions. We lived there for 3 1/2 years, and it wasn't all bad, because we did make some good friends, but the location was decidedly NOT motivating.