I considered all of these neighbourhoods when I moved to Calgary six years ago. Here are two major factors that made the difference:
1. It's within a 5 to 20 minute commute of several different employment hubs: downtown, MRU, Foothills Hospital, U of C, and Rockyview. All of these destinations are directly linked to Marda Loop by a single transit line. Most are within biking distance (even U of C is only a 35 minute bike). Having access to multiple employment districts is KEY because many couples work in different locations. Most inner city locations are really badly located relative to non-downtown employment hubs. Inglewood is almost completely off limits to people who work at the universities or the western hospitals. Even Kensington, which is physically closer to Foothills, takes just as long to get there via bus as it does from Marda Loop.
2. Housing options are plentiful and diverse. I had a really hard time finding places in Kensington and Inglewood, but I was spoiled for choice in South Calgary/Altadore. Housing options range from older apartment buildings to multi-million dollar mansions. The nice thing is that so much of the neighbourhood was previously occupied by these wide lots with cheap bungalows from the 1950s. They have no architectural value preventing them from being knocked down, but the size of the lot provides a lot of flexibility in terms of what replaces them. For the last few decades they have been replaced primarily with bungalows. However, now they are increasingly replaced with mid-rise buildings and townhouses.