I've lived in several cities including Boston and DC (and the urban cities that surround them both). It sounds like every wealthy city I've ever lived in or been to and sounds nothing like the 2nd tier cities that I've been to and now live in.

When a city is wealthy it gets like the top level comment described. I don't know what it is but it's related to money. You can see this by comparing the wealther boroughs of NYC to the poorer ones or comparing the wealthier suburbs of Boston to the poorer ones. The poorer ones are more "alive" for lack of a better term.

The car stuff really doesn't bother me. It's just a function of the dominant means of transit when that city was built out.

I don't agree with the dystopian view in the OP, but I will say that I notice far fewer people outside in wealthier areas where I live than in poorer areas. I attribute it to most low income jobs not really being bound to the 9-5, so people might be out and about at all hours, especially now that school is out for the summer. It makes these areas feel warmer and closer knit vs. some of the sterile luxury apartments I've seen.

Consumer capitalism can not replace culture. I think that’s what your remarks about different bouroughs feeling alive was getting at.

>Your description doesn't really sound like any actual city that I know of, ... Do you have a particular city in mind?

Actually, it sounds a whole lot like the Phoenix metro area. Atlanta, SLC, and most of LA probably qualify too.

>Because "car-centric and pedestrian hostile" sounds more like most suburbs than most urban areas.

Most American "cities" really are more like suburbs, when you compare to real cities in other countries. Especially the cities which grew up after cars became popular. These cities were never very pedestrian-friendly. Phoenix is probably the poster child for this. The amount of sprawl there is ridiculous, and there's really no place that's pedestrian-friendly, just because everything is so far apart that it would take forever to get to your destination on foot, even though sidewalks generally do exist.

I lived in Manhattan, so I'm pretty clear on my description. And it's true, the suburbs are hostile, too. You just use your lot and single family home to try to reconstitute a usable environment.