You hit the nail on the head. Anyone who is in tune with the spiritual environment of a city has felt this. Depending on your spiritual grounding this can feel either comfortable or unwelcoming as your own "vibration" either conforms or rejects the environment. I have felt this living abroad where the worst inhumane evil, Satanism, and dark magic is commonly practiced. In such a place prayer and calling upon the Holy Spirit is the only way I could feel protection from those incongruent external forces.