This is a symptom of the fact that the current gameplay is completely antithetical to the marketing of the game. I live in a urban area and walk about 5 miles a day with very little variety to the game as well. I'm realizing this game isn't designed around walking and exploring, it's designed around sitting at dense clusters of pokestops with other players.

If you want to experience the variety of pokemon this game offers, you're incentivized to sit and stay.

This is true, and distinguishes it from most videogames (which are, of course, geographically agnostic).