The actions people take are generally not a product of careful deliberation and certainly not always genuine reflections of their deepest desires.

Most of the time, people just do things without thinking too much about it and they do the things that are the "default mode" operations in the context in which they are operating.

It is not wise to look at actions people take and conclude that's what they really wanted to do. At the very least you'd need to ask them about it.

There may be 100 reasons why they feel tied to a spot where they actually don't want so much to live in. So let's try to really and truly improve the cities, make them walkable with green and blue spaces, easy public transport out to larger parks and reserves, etc.

Yeah just retire somewhere where you don't speak the language, have minimal-to-zero connection to local culture, and will be thousands of miles from children, family, and friends. Simple!