Maybe it's because I've moved around too much (and also lived in Europe for a bit), but I don't actually find urban areas in the U.S. that tied to their geographical area. Atlanta is different from Los Angeles, sure, but in broad strokes they share a lot of similarities, certainly more than either one shares with Paris, Rome, Tokyo, or Copenhagen---or with the rural areas 100 miles away from each.
Heck, Americans move around so much that most people I've met in urban areas are not "from" that state in the first place. Some of the friends I made in Atlanta were from New York City, others from San Francisco, others from Iowa. Some of the friends I made when I lived in the Bay Area had grown up in the Midwest. For my part, I grew up in a mixture of Chicago and Houston, but don't feel any more "at home" in either one than in the Bay Area or Atlanta.
I agree. I think the urban areas in much of Europe are a much better reflection of their surrounding areas than those in the U.S. Atlanta for example really is different than surrounding Georgia. But I wouldn't say that Atlanta feels anything like Minneapolis for example.
Also many of the European cities have such a different flavor than U.S. ones, how they're laid out for example, that going from Munich to Paris is a tremendously different experience. More than Atlanta to Minneapolis? Yeah I think so. But likewise Paris to Tokyo is even more of a difference than any other comparison above.
Heck, Americans move around so much that most people I've met in urban areas are not "from" that state in the first place. Some of the friends I made in Atlanta were from New York City, others from San Francisco, others from Iowa. Some of the friends I made when I lived in the Bay Area had grown up in the Midwest. For my part, I grew up in a mixture of Chicago and Houston, but don't feel any more "at home" in either one than in the Bay Area or Atlanta.