Look, I've visited NYC and there's a lot of nice things, such as mass transit that basically works, food options everywhere, etc. I liked it more than I expected I would.
But there's not a lot of peacefulness. There's certainly not peacefulness outside my bedroom windows anywhere I could afford to live. Sleeping with windows open and waking to birdsong rather than traffic sounds is quality of life for me.
You don't have to live in a city if you don't want to. In Japan you can choose if you want to live in the countryside or in the smack middle of Osaka.
Yeah, cars are the #1 of quality of life problem in cities.