It sounds like Picard is proposing to live in a small town near the big city where he will work. If that's the case, I suspect he will be commuting a lot, and he will only have the partial small town experience. He can get much of the benefit of the big city -- shopping, the arts, medical care, etc. -- if he just stays a bit after work or rearranges his work schedule, if that's possible.

I don't know about you, but after working hard the whole week, I tend to want to take the weekend easy. So a small town would do.

For me, personally, I am not a fan of small town life. I'd like to move back to a big city.