I was born and raised in London, some 611sq miles and well in 2001 it numbered over 7 million citizens, 12 years later it's likely to be some 10 million plus and at a high density (somewhere in the region taking in to account population growth, 5000 plus per square kilometer. Growing up in the biggest city in Europe has some major advantages, I'm rarely lost in urban situations as I'm used to navigating my way around the maze that is London.
As I get older I find myself pushing myself further and further away from Central London. I'm now living and working betweens zones 3 and 6 (divisions on the public transport maps) of South London I'm essentially living in Surrey (though a little misleading as Greater London has consumed segments of all counties around the London region) and there's a lot of open land and parks. I always keep saying that one day I'll wind up going "screw this" and like move to Tennessee or somewhere equally as rural.