Does this happen to most people? It happens to me especially in cities like Markarth, Solitude and Riften. It is very frequent.

Yes. You'll especially notice it when the game is loading a lot of AI related to NPCs and/or creatures (in the wild) in a relatively small area. Once the game 'figures it out', it'll usually smooth out. I usually just stop moving for a couple of seconds while the game is 'figuring' in these cases (reduce the liklihood I contribute to a freeze) and then go about my business.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah it's so annoying! I just wish it wasn't so frequent. Outside doesn't seem to be quite as bad as in cities.

Yeah, it's annoying, but once you get used to it and the areas it becomes habitual to just wait for a second or two.

It's the areas in the wild that you have to be careful of because they can be random depending upond the Radiant-AI; occassionally the game will toss a little more into the mix than it can comfortably handle and in those cases, you have to be especially patient -- if not downright willing to just slowly leave the area for awhile.

E.g., An active spriggan with several bears, deer, foxes, and rabbits in tow vs. bandits, ice mages and maybe a giant camp in the area equals a mess for the script to sort thru the cpu and ram (throw a waterfall or the like into the mix for a heavy graphics system load too, and it's a major fps reduction usually).

Like many things in life, learn to 'know the game' and when you recognize these kinds of signs, give the game some breathing room; Skyrim will reward you by freezing and crashing less often.