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Which inner city area is king?

  • Beltline

    Votes: 15 30.0%

  • Bridgeland

    Votes: 8 16.0%

  • Kensington

    Votes: 11 22.0%

  • Marda Loop

    Votes: 3 6.0%

  • Inglewood

    Votes: 5 10.0%

  • Mission

    Votes: 5 10.0%

  • East Village

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • Eau Claire \ West End

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • Chinatown

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Total voters
    50
Always_Biking

Always_Biking

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There's no right answer of course, but thought this would be a good discussion topic. All of Calgary's main inner city spots are thriving and continually improving. Which one is the best and why? Which one has the most potential?
 
I homeristically voted Mission, but in reality it's the Beltline that is king, of course. The one with the most potential for major long-term growth I think is Kensington just due to the underdevelopment along 14 Street and Kensington Road west of 11 Street. I could see that entire area becoming a multi-street nightlife and retail destination in the long term. Unfortunately most of our other nodes - Mission, Inglewood, Marda Loop - are only one trick (one street) ponies. Downtown (Eau Claire, Chinatown, CBD), East Village, and Bridgeland all has a ton of potential on that front as well though. I could see EV eventually being better than Kensington at least from the pure fact that it will be far more condensed, far more dense, and built with pedestrian priority in mind from the get-go.
 
That's a tough question as many of those have different advantages depending on what one is looking for. The Beltline has by far the best retail amenities, nightlife and the most density. Inglewood is great for that small town feel, character and architectural diversity. Bridgeland has a lot of the same, and maybe has the most momentum. Kensington kind of has a bit of everything. One thing is has going is the at grade LRT station smack dab in the center, and lots of development nearby, making it a very good TOD. It has solid retail and resto options, and park options like Bow River, McHugh Bluff and Riley Park access.
 
I love the beltline because it's one of the few that is accessible from every direction, with each of those directions being (relatively) dense urban neighborhoods in their own right. It effectively concentrates all the great things about an active neighborhoods even more. If I was a little older than I am right now, I'd probably go for Kensington. Looking into the future EV will probably be home if/when it fills in those empty lots.
 
Lower Mount Royal is missing too - I suggest adding it to Beltline. I don't know if many people draw much of a distinction between the Beltline and LMR beyond us who live right around here, on account it's the lesser known side of 17th Ave and relatively small. LMR is also notably "complete" and almost exclusively low/mid-rise apartments, one of the few neighbourhoods like it.

With that said, I think it'll be hard to unseat the Beltline feat. LMR as the "king" largely due to it's resilience and longevity. Here's my assessment with an arbitrary rating scale:
  • The more complete and established western section is probably Calgary's most complete and established mid/high rise district, keeping the urbanist pilot light on during the dark days of the 1970s and 1980s.
  • Its got the range of scales, diversity and growth to have achieved internal sustainability. In the face of ever changing consumer and resident demands, the population and jobs base gives it a unique ability to evolve and have urban amenities, boom or bust.
  • An example of this is the multiple interesting walkable main streets, forever trading off with each other over the decades as near the top of the list for best walking streets in the city: electric avenue, 17th Avenue, 1st Street SW, 4th Street SW, 11th Street, 8th Street (maybe one day)
  • Groceries and coffee and a Canadian Tire, it's likely the best case for those looking for an easy car-free lifestyle - one of only a few in the City or even Alberta.
  • Mission/Cliff Bungalow, all of downtown borrow the Beltline's population and intensity, rather than the other way around.
  • Beltline will always remain at the centre of things quite literally - another area has a boom decade or two, that's awesome! Us Beltliners will walk over and check it out. Looking at you Inglewood. If it every leaves the top spot, don't expect it to go down very far on the list before coming back up.
  • The only truly "big city" place we have so far

Other notable mentions:
  • Bridgeland: easily the top boomer of the last few years, in absolute and relative terms. It's so close to hitting the next checkpoint on it's inevitable climb to one of the greats. Great vibe, great diversity and finally a bit of height to give the boost of density needed to get to the next level. Probably the next true contender for the top spot.
  • Kensington: probably the strongest car-free candidate thanks to really high quality attention to design, river pathway access, our best community LRT station, post-secondary influence, and a unique local culture. While Beltline has got the scale, Kensington offers a nuance and finesse. I think it peaked in "coolness" in the 2000s but that doesn't mean it's uncool now, perhaps more "mature". A perennial contender.
  • Inglewood: coolness champion 2015 - present. People love it for good reasons, just not a ton of places to live around here. A bit further back in the continuum for urban greatness as it needs a few more thousand people living right in it to be sustainable rather than just a cool destination vibe. Green Line (if it happens) and some more material redevelopment of the vacant land here is what's needed next. With such good bones, Inglewood is always possible to make a good run at the top spot. I just hope this all happens before microbreweries stop becoming cool (if that's even possible).
  • Mission/Cliff Bungalow: long my favourite (particularly the enclave of Cliff Street, the best street in the city IMO), but always a bit frustrating. Peaked in coolness in the 1990s - early 2000s but can't seem to get over the hump (or in local parlance, a "4th Street pit") and feels to be in stagnation, even when new development comes somehow. Always great potential, always on the list, but rarely topping it with too many ongoing misses - Holy Cross Centre wasteland, poor sidewalk quality, annoying posh influence from Upper Mount Royal is a bit grating. Easy to get overshadowed by the Beltline. Needs a more substantive win.
  • Marda Loop: relative new comer to the race, but strong showing especially in the last few years with a more substantive apartment supply coming online. A bit too rich to ever be "cool" on it's own, natural maturity and aging will help with that. Needs public realm upgrades and sidewalks desperately as it's annoying to cross most roads on account of speeding $100K Teslas everywhere. Overall a great start and not likely to leave the contender list again.
  • West End/Eau Claire/[Chinatown]: when you have all the pieces but can't figure out what the picture on the box is. World class pathway system - but all neighourhoods that turn their back to it. Lots of density - but not enough to compensate from the cancerous office dead zone attacking the area from the south for decades. If just one retail street or patio can crack the pathways system to make it a really high-quality connection point, we got ourselves a true contender.
Unlisted, but must watch:
  • Crescent Heights Village: great start, needs to tame Centre Street. Green Line (if it happens) will help get this one on the list.
  • Edmonton Trail / Renfrew cluster: probably can go on the list now but needs a bit more to reach a level where it's known outside itself.
  • Forest Lawn / International Avenue: transit and streetscapes are all there as well as the needed diversity and chill vibe. Needs a bit more "urban" but could easily be on the list with only a few more urban developments. Worth watching.
Darkhorses:
  • Bowness: people will always love it. Inner city in spirit if not location. Route 1 baby.
  • Banff Trail / 24 Avenue NW: the board is set and the pieces are moving. If all these infills come to pass, easily could show up on the list one day.
  • Downtown / Stephen Ave: who knows? Maybe after we run out of oil-bros and their lunch-oriented vibes, the street and will have a chance to reform itself into a truly great inner city place. Combined with 10th Avenue, could easily be packaged into some sort of uber-urban nightlife district someday. But alot would have to happen for that to happen.
 
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IMO comparing the Beltline to the other neighborhoods in the list is kind of comparing apples to oranges. Mission, Inglewood, Kensington, Marda and Bridgeland are all built in a similar way. A mix of SFHs, duplexes, rowhousing, and lowrise multi family developments, each with a retail corridor. The Beltline has a few houses and some rowhousing, but is really a mix of highrise residential, office, and hotel....and course ton loads of retail and restaurant options.

Most people are going to prefer either the lifestyle of the Beltline (Style A) or the lifestyle of one of the other 5 hoods (Style B), and will choose the particular B hood based on personal taste. Those with children and/or pets are most likely to pick one of the sleepier B neighborhoods. Young singles or couples without children or pets will probably prefer the Beltline, with its buzz of activity and abundance of social options..

Option B works well for me and my situation, and I went with Bridgeland, though any of the other option B hoods would work. As for the Beltline, I love the area, and it's the most exciting to visit and the most exciting to watch develop.
 
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In 5 years or so I think the University District could be a real contender here. It might not be inner city, but it will likely become a real urban hub for the otherwise desolate NW. Plus by the time its fully built out there's supposed to be 20,000 (I think) or so residents.

But as far as the current winner I'd have to choose Inglewood for style and quality of businesses. As mentioned earlier its a bit over dependant on people commuting to it, but its by far the most visually pleasing and pedestrian friendly. Kensington is also good but I hate to say its losing some of its charm. As much as I love all the new density in Kensington, I'm afraid that certain businesses are going to be priced out of the neighborhood
 
CBBarnett said:
Darkhorses:
  • Bowness: people will always love it. Inner city in spirit if not location. Route 1 baby.
  • Banff Trail / 24 Avenue NW: the board is set and the pieces are moving. If all these infills come to pass, easily could show up on the list one day.
  • Downtown / Stephen Ave: who knows? Maybe after we run out of oil-bros and their lunch-oriented vibes, the street and will have a chance to reform itself into a truly great inner city place. Combined with 10th Avenue, could easily be packaged into some sort of uber-urban nightlife district someday. But alot would have to happen for that to happen.
Click to expand...
10th ave in Sunalta could be a real up and comer. Its a little grimmy and forgotten now but just you wait, a decent cafe, couple more developments, maybe another brewery and next thing you know its vibrant TOD in the making
 
Okay, I spent too much time on this, but here's my take on what I like in a community and where they stack up. What I want is:
  • Groceries - walking distance to a good supermarket that won't gouge you
  • Dining - some variety; I want quick takeout for the night I don't want to cook, and a date night place and everywhere in between
  • Walkability - As few car sewers as possible, especially the roads with the amenities
  • Parks - Local, interesting parks that are easily accessible; I want a 5 minute walk to an interesting half-block green space here more than a great park that's a trek.
  • Paths - High quality bike infrastructure connecting to the best paths in the system; I don't want my workout to be 40% over before I get to a nice path.
  • Downtown access - Walking distance, easy walking if possible
  • Transit - Frequent, reliable service; ideally multiple high quality options.
1612381105763.png

What IMO these communities need to be better:
Beltline - Can't mess with the best. Taking a lane off Macleod in each direction; adding sidewalks and a cycle track would be the biggest help especially on the east side.
East Village - For me, the Superstore opening was the difference-maker (without it, EV would be maybe 10th ranked); it now just needs some more dining options
Kensington - The only real issue here is that the closer you are to dining and the downtown, the further you are from groceries and the LRT.
Mission/Cliff Bungalow - Similar to Kensington except the LRT is less accessible. Redoing Elbow Island park was a recent good move.
Eau Claire - If it had a supermarket and less rich jerks, what a great spot.
Downtown West End - The car sewers kill it; if you could take a lane off every road and rebuild the bottom two stories of every building, it would be perfect.
Lower Mount Royal - A lot of the vitality benefits of the Beltline, just a little far from the downtown. Better transit along 17th would help; so would better cycle tracks on 11th.
Lower Tuxedo - I think this area has a lot of potential; there could be better local green space and the main roads suck especially 16th Ave.
Bridgeland - On paper, you're near the LRT, near the downtown, near a nice emerging main street. In reality, you're only ever near one of those. Also needs groceries.
Inglewood - The NIMBYs are out of control; there's no less dense community this accessible to downtown -- if there was some more density, the area could support a real grocery store. Wish the sidewalks didn't roll up at 5 PM.
International Ave - Good variety in dining; the area needs public realm improvements and more reliable transit. (Max doesn't mean anything when the headways are 20 minutes.) But there's value here.
Marda Loop - The most overrated IMO; there's just not enough there there yet if you think about dining versus Kensington. Crowchild cutting off expansion to the west doesn't help.
Montgomery - The #1 bus needs improvement out this way, and there needs more activity here as well.
 
Ubran Outdoorsman said:
10th ave in Sunalta could be a real up and comer. Its a little grimmy and forgotten now but just you wait, a decent cafe, couple more developments, maybe another brewery and next thing you know its vibrant TOD in the making
Click to expand...
I was just about to say that Sunalta was missing on his list. It has the strong foundations to be a vibrant area. Mix in West Village across the tracks whenever that happens in the future, as well 14th ST main street development along the eastern borders of Sunalta, and it'll belong in the top contender category.
 
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