The big difference is community, of course. The city has my friends, living alone away from everyone else would be lonely. But new communities can be built. I've recently started to realise how strange it is that in the West, we don't build new cities or towns any more. What's stopping a small group of engineers (perhaps backed by VCs) from buying a big plot of land a few hours of drive away from London / NYC / SF and building a small village with large houses and a community centre? Water and electricity would be difficult for sure, but I'm sure its not an unsolvable problem.
Of course, new communities like this couldn't just house engineers and other wealthy folks, but you would need health services, plumbers, delivery workers and so on. But I think it's strange that nobody is even thinking of something like this as an option. Festivals like Burning Man and the ubiquity of hiking as a hobby show that there is a need of better connection to nature amongst people who live in big cities.