I don’t have geographical agoraphobia but I do have the greatest warmth and fuzziness in older urban areas in which buildings have smaller set-backs with lots of mature trees.
I grew up in a late '60s automobile suburb (stereotypical suburban sprawl) and I’ve spent a few years at sea in the navy and I’ve driven from coast to coast, including the prairies. I was never uncomfortable in wide open spaces but, if I had to live in a prairie environment, I would want to live in a town that gave me an hour’s worth of walking distance.
We have a large neighborhood that got developed as a “Prairie Style” community. Narrow streets, houses near the sidewalk with large porches. It worked!
We live in an old, old neighborhood with those same features, and chatting with neighbors walking by (or even across the street with that other couple on their porch) does indeed happen, and we have a wonderful sense of community.
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But back to the OP, I don’t have agoraphobia, but I clearly remember driving through the middle of Illinois and thinking I’d never seen any place so flat… I got a strong feeling that the wind could just blow the car off the road and I’d just keep sliding across the fields for miles and miles.
I had a feeling like that snorkeling off Little Cayman Island. It’s very clear water, and there’s a normal sea floor for awhile. Then it drops off. Nothing but darkness. I’m still swimming on the top, but seeing nothingness below was unsettling.
Oh yeah, deep clear water is terrifying. My husband and I went snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. It was a bit nerve-wracking to me even close to the boat. Where they put you out, you’re just above the coral. But the churn of the water slowly moves you further and further out, towards the ABYSS…
I only feel this way when I am in the lobby of a building, or even just outside a building, that has a foyer or ground floor that is more than 2 regular stories tall but not extremely high. Not only do I feel more exposed, I feel like the builders and occupants are trying to impress or even oppress me with their power and ostentation. When it gets high enough, though, the ceiling is so far away that it is sort of like skydivers losing some of their fear of heights when the ground is far enough away that it seems more abstract.
And conversely, when a lobby is only around 2 regular stories high or even shorter, it feels more cozy and inviting.