Not the original commenter, but I presume they meant that if the location of the city isn't important to the story, then filmmakers can use buildings, streetsca

Not the original commenter, but I presume they meant that if the location of the city isn't important to the story, then filmmakers can use buildings, streetscapes, etc to convey "city" without conveying "New York" or "Chicago". It didn't come off as disparaging American cities in general.