I kinda like both. I grew up in Sandy, Utah - which is a major suburb of Salt Lake City, located in the southeast corner of Salt Lake Valley. Sandy has the 'not city, but bigger than small town' feel to it, and Salt Lake is growing by the day into a major metropolis. But I doubt SLC will become anything close to the likes of LA, DC, NYC, San Antonio, Dallas, and the sort because the people there are used to the 'small town' atmosphere and feeling of SLC. It's the perfect place in the world for me.
Here's a couple of shots of the area I grew up in... and these are recent as well. It's two different views of Little Cottonwood Canyon... which just 15 miles up the canyon is Snowbird ski resort, and 22 miles up is Alta ski resort.


I used to live in the lower left-hand corner of the winter picture.
God that place is gorgeous and I miss it so much.