As a non-American, I’m very confused by this. If it’s a town, it’s not rural by definition. Because, you-know, it’s urban.
Also, could we get a definition of town vs small town. Do you not have the concept of a village? (Village in the UK would be a settlement with a population of a couple of thousand, with usually a pub, local shop, maybe a post office and primary school if you’re lucky).
Narrower roads and shorter buildings is a start, now simplify the architecture, add space between the buildings, get rid of the “downtown” apartment buildings, definitely ditch that bike lane, is that a traffic light in the distance, lol. If you can’t imagine the smell of livestock shit permeating the air, you’re not really looking at rural America.
Rural towns. And yes, that’s what I’ve experienced.