The Next American City is one of those publications to which I keep meaning to pay more attention. Their latest issue, on The Urban/ Rural Edge is a good example of why. Not only does it have a number of interesting-looking explorations of farms and farming in a metropolitan context, it also has a great piece on distributed generation and smart grids, a look at South Korea's New Songdo City and an interesting Joel Kotkin essay on Places Sacred, Safe, and Busy.