I'm not sure if Americans in general are more aware of zoning and planning [speaking as a non-American], but maybe an intuitive conception of a city as a set of functionally separated areas is more prevalent there, because many/most of their cities are shaped by modernist ideals to a much greater degree than many European cities (to an extent that there are essentially _no services_ in many suburbs besides a primary school and a gas station, and city centers, on the other hand, are largely devoted to office buildings).