The Confederacy's hubs are in its metropolises, forming a melting pot of different species, cultures, and environments. The surrounding areas are therefore greatly influenced by these cities.

Take an average Confederate metropolis on a developed terraformed world. You have the city proper, with huge skyscrapers, intricate transportation networks, and enormous buildings. Directly outside of this, the infrastructure becomes progressively less dense, giving way to residential areas and satellite towns. These harbor a large number of residents of all kinds: humans, cyborgs, droids, aliens, and so on.

Depending on the exact circumstances of the area in question, it varies greatly as to how life goes there. Many will live in the suburbs and commute to the city to work, maintaining a fairly comfortable lifestyle (by Confederate standards) with a spacious dwelling and good infrastructure. This subgroup regard themselves as city dwellers by proxy and just generally have a good all-round lifestyle.

With any major Confederate city comes the ghettos, and these are somewhat more interesting. Many members of alien races may distrust or dislike Confederacy life, actively forming their own smaller world in which they can control their lives. These tend to form away from the areas occupied by those described above. For example, elevated parks are a fairly common feature in many suburban areas: a level area of ground supported by pillars which has an empty space beneath it, perfect for such groups to set up shop.

In these ghettos, many do not seek employment, even if prompted to by the local Node (Nodes have a general moral code to not force citizens to do things they do not want to do; this rule is broken in multiple circumstances, but that's beside the point). Instead, they roam their domain, terrorizing interlopers or engaging in skirmishes with rival gangs.

It is not unusual for younger humans and aliens to run away to such places: they offer a sense of freedom that the immediate environment cannot. A city-dweller, as you call it, is anathema to the ways of a ghetto, and is likely to be attacked should they try to enter or pass through these areas.