Do rural or urban communities fare better during tough times?

"tough times" provides almost no information.

You could use as an example of an urban region faring better than a rural one, the landscape of Poland in the last millennia. The frequent raids and sackings from the eastern khanates and tribes would remove any wealth or resources held by the people. The building of towers, walled castles, keeps, etc. allowed the people to protect themselves and their resources during these sacks, in which the enemy would instead seek an easier community (usually) rather than trying to starve out or break into the structure. Communities would begin being organized around the castle or tower that could protect them, and when other large permanent structures became established through more commerce, religious activity, etc. then protective structures would extend to enclose or account for them as well.

An example of urban areas not faring well in tough times would be the Plague of Athens, in which a population spending weeks enclosed within its walled borders resulted in widespread sickness and exposure to sickness, killing a crazy amount of people and surrendering the remaining population to the invaders, who largely passed by rural regions as being irrelevant to the cause of the conflict.

It really depends on the circumstance