Western urbanites are people that live in cities in Western countries - that is, first-world countries like the United States, Canada, and most countries in Europe. So are they just people who live in Western cities? Well, sort of, except there is something very special about them: it is almost as if they are a separate class of human beings due to the different social pressures created by so many people living in such small areas, and similar economic pressures. The contrast between city and countryside is like that between an expressway and an open field.

There are many hazards of being a Western urbanite: strong frictions are created between groups of people, and racial discrimination increases, as does crime generally, drug associate problems, and poverty - also the standards of the physical environment decrease dramatically as more people are pulling on natural resources - clean air for example is hard to find in a city.

There are also enormous benefits of living in a city, all basically to do with availablity of resources, in particular human resources. Academia, commerce, and the standard of life in general all benefit from the situation.

Source: World Book Encyclopedia
