Avenue Magazine Announces This Year’s Best Neighbourhoods
MEDIA RELEASE
July 29, 2013 – And the winner is… Arbour Lake. Avenue magazine’s fourth annual Best Neighbourhoods survey has named the northwest community Calgary’s best place to live, moving it onto the winner’s podium after a second-place finish in 2012. Last year’s winner, Varsity, which also topped the poll in 2011, was bumped to third for 2013, with Acadia in second place.
Avenue’s yearly ranking of the city’s Best Neighbourhoods is the result of an eight-month-long online poll that asks Calgarians to complete a survey about the qualities they most value in a neighbourhood. Additional information such as housing prices and the number of restaurants and retail outlets for each neighbourhood are added to the data. This information is then analyzed by Leger Marketing to generate the final list.
The survey, which ended March 1, boasted a high level of participation from across the city, said Avenue executive editor Jennifer Hamilton. “This year we had an overwhelming number of respondents, giving us the most comprehensive and robust results we’ve ever had,” Hamilton said. “Within the top 10, and indeed the top 50, there are neighbourhoods new and old, inner-city and suburban, which I think reflects the diversity of our readers and the many different things they value in a community.”
The results also reveal that long-established communities and newer developments are increasingly on equal footing, with qualities such as proximity to parks and pathways, friendly neighbours and low crime rates being key factors in the results. “I believe having 20 inner-city neighbourhoods in the top 50 shows that our city is no longer just growing out, but also rejuvenating from the core,” Hamilton added.
All four quadrants of the city are represented on this year’s list of winners. After the top three of Arbour Lake, Acadia and Varsity, Brentwood and Hillhurst round out the top five. Other communities on the list span the city from far northwest (Royal Oak) to deep southeast (McKenzie Towne). Complete results and details can be found in the August 2013 issue of Avenue and on the web at AvenueCalgary.com.
Watch for the 2014 survey, launching soon at AvenueCalgary.com.
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Avenue magazine is Calgary’s premier city lifestyle magazine. With a unique blend of journalistic excellence and inspirational aesthetics, Avenue provides readers with the city’s most reliable information on Calgary’s personalities, arts, fashion, home decor, dining, travel and leisure. Since 1994, Avenue readers have come to trust and look forward to the magazine’s award-winning, intelligent and cutting-edge perspective on the people, culture and lifestyles that define Calgary.
For media information or to arrange interviews, contact:
Jennifer Hamilton, Executive Editor | Avenue magazine | 403-998-3498