In the "first world" the difference between a city and a town is not as big. In Germany it is almost nonexistent today. You have access to the same infractructure and have a quick commute to your work; furthermore, the jobs are often created at the outskirts of the cities such that people who live in the suburbs have a better commute.

Not so in Russia, and in developing countries in general. Moscow is so very different from, say, Shatura that they are two different world separated by 2 hours of train ride. The same ought to be true for Sao Paulo and its suburbs in Brazil.