Bridgeland/Riverside

The walk downtown takes about half an hour, and Bridgeland/Riverside residents use it that way — coffee before work, dinner after, errands handled without a car. The commercial strip is weighted toward restaurants, Lukes Drug Mart one of the practical everyday anchors in a neighbourhood that draws people in from elsewhere to eat as much as it serves the people who live there. Tom Campbell's Hill off-leash park draws dogs and their owners up to the ridge most mornings, the views back over the river toward downtown part of how people orient themselves here. The Calgary Zoo runs along the east edge — less a daily fixture for most residents than a slow backdrop, its animal sounds occasionally drifting over on still evenings.